Fresh Speaking
(Nancy's notes from Lord's Day fellowship, April 18, 2010)
I feel a bit inadequate to speak concerning the cross. In our Christian life we go through processes, milestones along the way. These milestones cause us to maintain our love for the Lord.
The epistles in Revelation show us we need to love the Lord and stand against the world. Then in Philadelphia - we would all love to be there! The church of brotherly love. Love God and love the brothers! But the epistles don't stop there. There is the church in Laodicea. We have all the riches in Philadelphia, and can begin to have a mind of "I need nothing!" Paul said, "I count not myself to have obtained" Never had the mind of "I have reached the goal", but "I pursue".
What does this look like in our Christian walk? Victorious? No failings or hardships? The Lord supplying everything we need? 2 Cor. 3+4 - take a look. What does it look like in our daily living? We think we have arrived at Philadelphia. Wow! Victorious! But our daily walk does not look that way. When we have difficulties, we think "I must not be walking properly". You may have gotten saved and went back to tell your family. They say "don't talk to me that way, I don't want to hear about that." When we speak Christ, we get rejected, so we think we are doing something wrong and we become quiet. In Revelation we saw - this is where God is going. How does this look in our daily lives?
Psalm 103:7
"He made His ways known to Moses; His acts to the children of Israel."
There is a difference between His ways and His acts. We may have seen His acts - miracles. But we need to see His ways.
Exodus 33:13-14
"Now therefore if I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know now Your ways, that I may know You, so that I may continue to find favor in Your sight. Consider also that this nation is Your people. And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest."
Moses said "let me know Your ways that I may know You."
If we recognize His ways, we get to know Him. And Jehovah answered "My presence (face) will go with you and I will give you rest." Here is how Jehovah says Yes! My face will go with you! Here is My ways - My face will go with you. We say "Lord, I want to know Your ways." His answer is "My face".
2 Cor. 4:6 "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
v7 "we have this treasure in earthen vessels."
We thought the Christian life would be victorious and transcendent, and in a way it is. But what is it walk in our living? What does it look like living Christ? Living in spirit?
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We are pressed on every side. What is the cost? What is our daily experience? We think - victorious. Paul says perplexed, pressed on every side. When we go to our family or friends and get a little rejection, Paul says "that's right!" There are two sides. The Treasure of the universe is in us! We contact this One and say, "Oh the riches!" The other side of this experience is "we are pressed on every side."
Paul started this book with the sentence of death, We are dying here. Death is right here. We have no other hope. "Lord, we just rely on You, the One who raises the dead!" He puts us, always in a death situation so that the life of Jesus is manifested. He wants to manifest the life of Jesus through the church. Jesus walked in and out of death as the One in resurrection.
We always get caught in one side or the other. We enjoy the Treasure and we cling to the enjoyment, or while enjoying the Treasure the Lord brings us into a hard situation and we forget the Treasure. We need both sides. Paul was enjoying the Treasure in the midst of all the death. "I know this will turn out to my salvation through your prayer and the bountiful supply of the Holy Spirit". We need both sides.
When we begin to walk with the Lord we have floods of joy! Some even stood on chairs! Such joy! The Lord wants this life to be proved in us. This resurrection life! We look at the circumstances and step away. "I don't want that! I don't want to die here!" We need the two together. In the midst of the circumstance - don't think the Lord won't put us in circumstances. Paul was pressed on every side; delivered to death. Paul says, "that is the way to go!"
So then - the summary of the Christian life - death operates in us, but life in you. All the gifts: prophets, evangelists, etc. were given for the building up of the body of Christ.
We want to know God's ways. Pressing. The result is the Life of Jesus is manifested. This is ministry. Eph. - to the work of ministry. All of us should have such a ministry. Death in us, life in you. This is what it looks like in our Christian walk. Paul was such a supply to everyone - even to us. Death produces the life supply which produces the body of Christ. The Lord is there in the midst of the toughest times. Here is what it costs. It costs us everything. My entire earthen vessel.
To have His treasure He becomes a treasure in us, producing the church. As that life flows out, the Lord gets what He is after, His body. To walk in spirit - this is what it looks like. Our outward man decaying day by day. His life within producing the church.
(Judy's notes from Lord's Day fellowship, April 18, 2010)
What touched me from today's fellowship was two things:
1) That we would be those not just knowing God's outward acts, (His outward doings), rather, we would be those who know His ways. Lord, we want to know You and have Your heart!
2) To come to know Him in such a way does not come cheaply, it requires us to pay a price. - we have to "die" to our soul life. In the midst of this "dying", we find Christ in our spirit and we treasure Him. The outcome of such a life is that we magnify Him and supply life to those around us. Paul's living was an example not just to those he was with during his lifetime, but throughout the centuries he continues to exemplify one who would die to himself in order that Christ would be magnified. He didn't count the cost, but in order for the church to be built, he was willing to go through the daily putting to death - "Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" "So then, death operates in us, but life in you." (2 Cor. 4:10,12).
Lord, though it would cost us everything, may the treasure that is within us come out. Lord, grant us the grace that we would be willing to pay the price so that Your church be built.