"Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." Romans 16:16-20 ESV
There are some hard truths sandwiched in that group of verses. I think they are best served up as a sandwich. It starts with love and it ends with grace. The God who deals with obstacles, divisions and evil is a God of peace who promotes peace among the breathren.
The word 'mark' in verse 17 is Skopeo (Strong's G4648) and it speaks of awareness or attention. Not social ostracization or attack. The different doctrine that is problem is the teaching that acts as a snare or creates obstacles that block people from growth.
Flattery is not fellowship but a naive person may not know this is true. The word for evil is Kakos (G2556) and the word translated naive is Akakos (G172). Being naive is being unaware of evil. Being naive is dangerous. Grace teaching is wise teaching that informs of God's goodness and protects a person while keeping them innocent (unmixed) with evil.
Like a good father our peace filled God stomps on the head of the snake.
Love and grace provides vision and ability to scope out the things that slither so that they won't cause division. Naive love not strong in grace teaching can easily fall prey to counterfeit doctrine. An the other hand excessive violence devoid of grace may be applied to the situation resulting in destruction of another kind.
"Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works." 2 John 1:8-11 ESV
This verse is even stronger and a historical frame of reference is important here in order to understand this verse. Teachers traveled from place to place and stayed in believer's houses for periods of time while they taught. The greeting here, coupled with the stay in your home, is not a casual hello or goodbye with a handshake. It is a more formal greeting like the letter a speaker might be sent inviting them to come speak at a graduation. If you invite someone to speak you are giving approval to their teaching because they came at your invitation or you responded to a blanket request made by them.
Pastors who put politicians or philosophers into the pulpit may become partakers of the evil of that powerful soulish person. As John said, 'Watch yourselves.'
I want to be rightly related to these verses as a minister of reconciliation and as a protector of the weak and innocent. Spiritual life is not all smiles and handshakes but it is all about grace, truth and love that makes a difference.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Grace Reveals Heavenly Policy
Binding and loosing is a great concept to know and think about. Of all the Bible translations I think Kenneth Wuest handles these next verses in the most illuminating way.
"Simon Peter said, As for you, you are the Christ, the Son of God, the living God.
And answering, Jesus said to him, Spiritually prosperous are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven. Moreover, as for myself, I also am saying to you, You are Rock [petros, masculine in gender, a detached but large fragment of rock], and upon this massive rock [petra, feminine in gender, feminine demonstrative pronoun cannot go back to masculine petros; petra, a rocky peak, a massive rock] I will build my Church. And the councils of the unseen world shall not overpower it. I shall give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth [forbid to be done], shall have been already bound [forbidden to be done] in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth [permit to be done], shall have already been loosed in heaven [permitted to be done]." Matthew 16:16-19 Wuest Expanded Translation
He said that to Peter but Jesus says this to all His gathered disciples.
"Assuredly, I am saying to you, Whatever you forbid on earth, shall have already been forbidden in heaven. And whatever you permit on earth, shall have already been permitted in heaven. Again, assuredly I am saying to you, If two of you upon the earth are in agreement, concerning every matter of which they ask that something be given it shall become theirs from the presence of my Father who is in heaven. For where there are two or three who have been joined together into my Name with the result that I am the common object of their faith, there I am in their midst." Matthew 18-18-20 Wuest Expanded Translation
The Jesus who sits in Heaven at the right hand of the Father is present with two or more that gather and function in objective eternal truth. God's indwelling presence becomes a manifested presence.
Binding and loosing finds a conceptual parallel with the role of the priest examining a leper in the Hebrew scriptures. The priest does not heal anyone. They examine and they make a declaration based on examination.
Leviticus chapter 13 and into 14 talk about what should happen if people show symptoms of having a plague. They are to be brought before the priest and examined. The priest is to look for specific things and then shut the person up away from the population for 7 days at a time then look again. If a person is determined to be clean they are released if not they are banned from society to protect the community at large from infection. They were 'binding' and 'loosing' people based on the law.
The believer has the authority to bind and loose under grace. The finished work is our criteria. The message has the power and God is in our midst when two or more are gathered together. The Gospel of Grace declares what has happened and what Heaven's mind is on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Jesus' work is accepted as clean. Man's work and unredeemed nature is unclean.
Grace sets people free. God's presence in the midst has the power to set people free. If the truth is refused man's true nature is still revealed and the illusion of a freedom separated from God is exposed as a false reality in that person's thinking.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18 ESV
A believer is loosed and edified by agreeing with Heaven's perspective. That release is like a near death experience. Life becomes precious and new.
In passivity we can opt out of our privilege of being communicators of God's mind. We can put our light under a bushel. There is another way to live.
"O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." Psalms 43:3 KJV
"Simon Peter said, As for you, you are the Christ, the Son of God, the living God.
And answering, Jesus said to him, Spiritually prosperous are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven. Moreover, as for myself, I also am saying to you, You are Rock [petros, masculine in gender, a detached but large fragment of rock], and upon this massive rock [petra, feminine in gender, feminine demonstrative pronoun cannot go back to masculine petros; petra, a rocky peak, a massive rock] I will build my Church. And the councils of the unseen world shall not overpower it. I shall give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth [forbid to be done], shall have been already bound [forbidden to be done] in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth [permit to be done], shall have already been loosed in heaven [permitted to be done]." Matthew 16:16-19 Wuest Expanded Translation
He said that to Peter but Jesus says this to all His gathered disciples.
"Assuredly, I am saying to you, Whatever you forbid on earth, shall have already been forbidden in heaven. And whatever you permit on earth, shall have already been permitted in heaven. Again, assuredly I am saying to you, If two of you upon the earth are in agreement, concerning every matter of which they ask that something be given it shall become theirs from the presence of my Father who is in heaven. For where there are two or three who have been joined together into my Name with the result that I am the common object of their faith, there I am in their midst." Matthew 18-18-20 Wuest Expanded Translation
The Jesus who sits in Heaven at the right hand of the Father is present with two or more that gather and function in objective eternal truth. God's indwelling presence becomes a manifested presence.
Binding and loosing finds a conceptual parallel with the role of the priest examining a leper in the Hebrew scriptures. The priest does not heal anyone. They examine and they make a declaration based on examination.
Leviticus chapter 13 and into 14 talk about what should happen if people show symptoms of having a plague. They are to be brought before the priest and examined. The priest is to look for specific things and then shut the person up away from the population for 7 days at a time then look again. If a person is determined to be clean they are released if not they are banned from society to protect the community at large from infection. They were 'binding' and 'loosing' people based on the law.
The believer has the authority to bind and loose under grace. The finished work is our criteria. The message has the power and God is in our midst when two or more are gathered together. The Gospel of Grace declares what has happened and what Heaven's mind is on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Jesus' work is accepted as clean. Man's work and unredeemed nature is unclean.
Grace sets people free. God's presence in the midst has the power to set people free. If the truth is refused man's true nature is still revealed and the illusion of a freedom separated from God is exposed as a false reality in that person's thinking.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18 ESV
A believer is loosed and edified by agreeing with Heaven's perspective. That release is like a near death experience. Life becomes precious and new.
In passivity we can opt out of our privilege of being communicators of God's mind. We can put our light under a bushel. There is another way to live.
"O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." Psalms 43:3 KJV
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Newness
"Peter said to him, 'You shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.' Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.' " John 13:8-10a ESV
"They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:19-24 ESV
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
Newness.
A word of grace is a new communication that reveals newness. Old things are passed away and we can stand upright and look into the eyes of newness.
Today is a new day. By God's grace I am going forward in it in newness.
"They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:19-24 ESV
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
Newness.
A word of grace is a new communication that reveals newness. Old things are passed away and we can stand upright and look into the eyes of newness.
Today is a new day. By God's grace I am going forward in it in newness.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Grace Until Things Are Wrapped Up
"He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, 'O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.' " Daniel 9:22-24 NASB
Here we see the finished work of Christ laid out in time and space. God gave Daniel, a man in captivity in a foreign land, the blueprint and time frame for His plan of salvation. The next verses get into specifics about the breakdown of those 490 years (one week is seven years) and what will happen in broad strokes.
When the seventy weeks have expired here are the things that will have happened:
- Transgression will be restrained
- Made an end to sin
- Made reconciliation for all participation in evil
- Everlasting righteousness will have been brought in
- The door will be closed on the prophet or visionary ministry
- Holiest of the Holy will be anointed
Sixty nine of those weeks have transpired. One week is left and it is suspended in history. God abandoned His temple in Israel and stopped the prophetic clock leaving the last seven years to play out on a future stage (see Daniel 9:26-27)
The church and we ourselves are caught between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel.
Sin is paid for but not everything is sealed up just yet. God in His mercy and long suffering held the door open for us to come in. Soon that door will be shut and the last events will unfold and what is finished in our hearts will be finished in the world at large also.
I look at that list of things and reckon in my heart that the work is finished. Receiving Christ puts us on the other end of those things. We will be ushered into them but God sees them as already on the account of the believer.
Christ said this to the Israel that rejected Him.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " Matthew 23:37-39 ESV
One day a nation will say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' and Christ will come to them.
Those who believe now have already said this statement because grace has been revealed to them. He gathers them all under His wings and loses no one who comes to Him.
There is a yearning in us to see God take possession of what He has paid for. Until then we continue to receive grace and point people to the open door.
Here we see the finished work of Christ laid out in time and space. God gave Daniel, a man in captivity in a foreign land, the blueprint and time frame for His plan of salvation. The next verses get into specifics about the breakdown of those 490 years (one week is seven years) and what will happen in broad strokes.
When the seventy weeks have expired here are the things that will have happened:
- Transgression will be restrained
- Made an end to sin
- Made reconciliation for all participation in evil
- Everlasting righteousness will have been brought in
- The door will be closed on the prophet or visionary ministry
- Holiest of the Holy will be anointed
Sixty nine of those weeks have transpired. One week is left and it is suspended in history. God abandoned His temple in Israel and stopped the prophetic clock leaving the last seven years to play out on a future stage (see Daniel 9:26-27)
The church and we ourselves are caught between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel.
Sin is paid for but not everything is sealed up just yet. God in His mercy and long suffering held the door open for us to come in. Soon that door will be shut and the last events will unfold and what is finished in our hearts will be finished in the world at large also.
I look at that list of things and reckon in my heart that the work is finished. Receiving Christ puts us on the other end of those things. We will be ushered into them but God sees them as already on the account of the believer.
Christ said this to the Israel that rejected Him.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " Matthew 23:37-39 ESV
One day a nation will say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' and Christ will come to them.
Those who believe now have already said this statement because grace has been revealed to them. He gathers them all under His wings and loses no one who comes to Him.
There is a yearning in us to see God take possession of what He has paid for. Until then we continue to receive grace and point people to the open door.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Grace Transforms
A nugget from last night: 'Grace Transforms'
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2 ESV
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being TRANSFORMED into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was TRANSFIGURED before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." Mark 9:2-4 ESV
All of theses are this same Greek word Metamorphoo (Strong's G3339). This is not a cosmetic change. This type of change has been compared to the change a butterfly goes through in it's life cycle. The change from an Earth bound creature into a beautifully colorful one that flits through the air lightly on wings. I like that imagery very much.
This morning I was thinking differently about this. Jesus' change is our change. His transfiguration was a revealing of what already was and will forever be. But, Unlike the butterfly He returned to an 'Earth bound form' to go back down the mountain. Those two disciples could never erase the image of His brightness and Heavenly fellowship from their minds. Peter speaks later about it in first and second Peter.
"So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed" 1 Peter 5:1 ESV
"I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. ... For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts," 2 Peter 1:13-14, 16-19 ESV
This transformation lists these words in this order in 1 Peter 5:1
Revealed (apokalyptÅ - G601) | Glory (Doxa - G1391) | Partaker (Koinonos - G2844)
Transformation at it's heart has these three aspects. There is fellowship in it. Jesus was not changed alone. As He brightened Elijah and Moses appeared. There was glory in it and there was a revealing not only of what would be but of what already was. Finished work reality was revealed in time. It was unveiled.
Now back to the first statement. 'Grace Transforms'
Yes it does.
Grace reveals that the partaker has a glory that belongs to God. As the partaker partakes glory is revealed. One day the glory that is will literally change our bodies to match what we have but we have it now as partakers of grace.
The butterfly transforms alone. We don't. Truth revealed is a conversation with two or more participants. Transformation is not just whiteness and brightness... it is fellowship. God may cut His stones in private but the glory comes when He places them in His temple.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2 ESV
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being TRANSFORMED into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was TRANSFIGURED before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." Mark 9:2-4 ESV
All of theses are this same Greek word Metamorphoo (Strong's G3339). This is not a cosmetic change. This type of change has been compared to the change a butterfly goes through in it's life cycle. The change from an Earth bound creature into a beautifully colorful one that flits through the air lightly on wings. I like that imagery very much.
This morning I was thinking differently about this. Jesus' change is our change. His transfiguration was a revealing of what already was and will forever be. But, Unlike the butterfly He returned to an 'Earth bound form' to go back down the mountain. Those two disciples could never erase the image of His brightness and Heavenly fellowship from their minds. Peter speaks later about it in first and second Peter.
"So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed" 1 Peter 5:1 ESV
"I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. ... For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts," 2 Peter 1:13-14, 16-19 ESV
This transformation lists these words in this order in 1 Peter 5:1
Revealed (apokalyptÅ - G601) | Glory (Doxa - G1391) | Partaker (Koinonos - G2844)
Transformation at it's heart has these three aspects. There is fellowship in it. Jesus was not changed alone. As He brightened Elijah and Moses appeared. There was glory in it and there was a revealing not only of what would be but of what already was. Finished work reality was revealed in time. It was unveiled.
Now back to the first statement. 'Grace Transforms'
Yes it does.
Grace reveals that the partaker has a glory that belongs to God. As the partaker partakes glory is revealed. One day the glory that is will literally change our bodies to match what we have but we have it now as partakers of grace.
The butterfly transforms alone. We don't. Truth revealed is a conversation with two or more participants. Transformation is not just whiteness and brightness... it is fellowship. God may cut His stones in private but the glory comes when He places them in His temple.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Grace Allegiance
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30 ESV
There is no neutral ground in that statement.
Many people have said the first part of the verse. We may have said it. From any other mouth it speaks about loyalties or allegiances. A 'whose side are you on?' test to marshal power or leverage. Or it can be a confrontational tool quickly identify an overt enemy in a potential future conflict.
When Jesus said this it meant something different.
Here Peter tried to manufacture a sincere answer to a question Jesus never asked him:
"Peter answered him, 'Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.' ... Peter said to him, 'Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!' And all the disciples said the same." Matthew 26:33, 35 ESV
Jesus gently said to him:
"Jesus said to him, 'Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' " Matthew 26:34 ESV
If it were about loyalty Peter would have passed the test. His desire was real. Loyalty wasn't enough in this case. The forces involved here are not just political or social. This was a spiritual issue not a heart issue. Will power is an illusion in a spiritual battle. Will is not excluded it is just not a deciding factor.
If I try to make this a loyalty issue I may use the second part of the verse to prove my loyalty. I try to gather instead of scatter but in doing so I find that scattering becomes the result.
Receiving grace is the only way I can be 'for Christ.' The Holy Spirit must make my human spirit alive at the moment of my salvation and then as I walk in newness the human spirit is freed from the bondage of 'soul attachments' by the word of grace (see Heb 4:12).
A 'graced out' person is one who is 'for Christ' and they gather as a way of life. They stand in grace (see Romans 5:2) so they walk in Love (see Ephesians 5:2)
Peter says this at the end of his first book.
"I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it." 1 Peter 5:12b ESV
Amen to that! I want to use my will to stand in the faith rest of grace today.
There is no neutral ground in that statement.
Many people have said the first part of the verse. We may have said it. From any other mouth it speaks about loyalties or allegiances. A 'whose side are you on?' test to marshal power or leverage. Or it can be a confrontational tool quickly identify an overt enemy in a potential future conflict.
When Jesus said this it meant something different.
Here Peter tried to manufacture a sincere answer to a question Jesus never asked him:
"Peter answered him, 'Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.' ... Peter said to him, 'Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!' And all the disciples said the same." Matthew 26:33, 35 ESV
Jesus gently said to him:
"Jesus said to him, 'Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' " Matthew 26:34 ESV
If it were about loyalty Peter would have passed the test. His desire was real. Loyalty wasn't enough in this case. The forces involved here are not just political or social. This was a spiritual issue not a heart issue. Will power is an illusion in a spiritual battle. Will is not excluded it is just not a deciding factor.
If I try to make this a loyalty issue I may use the second part of the verse to prove my loyalty. I try to gather instead of scatter but in doing so I find that scattering becomes the result.
Receiving grace is the only way I can be 'for Christ.' The Holy Spirit must make my human spirit alive at the moment of my salvation and then as I walk in newness the human spirit is freed from the bondage of 'soul attachments' by the word of grace (see Heb 4:12).
A 'graced out' person is one who is 'for Christ' and they gather as a way of life. They stand in grace (see Romans 5:2) so they walk in Love (see Ephesians 5:2)
Peter says this at the end of his first book.
"I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it." 1 Peter 5:12b ESV
Amen to that! I want to use my will to stand in the faith rest of grace today.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
The Spirit's Ministry of Conviction
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." John 16:7-11 ESV
The only faith that works is a faith that is working by Love. The only way to have that Love is if the Holy Spirit sheds it abroad in our hearts. Only new wine vessels can hold that Love. Old wine vessels just burst. That which is new must have a birth that came from the seed of the Word of God. That seed is incorruptible. That seed names the name of Christ who is the only name under Heaven that men might be saved and made new.
The Spirit sheds the Love of God in that which is new. He sheds conviction in that which is old. When does that happen? This verse gives that dynamic clearly if positional truth is understood as a doctrine.
HE CONVICTS OF SIN. In a finished work the Spirit convicts of sin. He convicts the one who does not believe in Christ and the one who is not believing in Christ. What would be Love shed abroad for the new man is conviction in the soul of someone living in old things and methods. It is not 'fear that has torment'... that comes from another source. The old man loves darkness as a shelter and falls prey to those things that live in darkness.
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." John 3:18-21 ESV
Believing ends our isolation. Grace removes the reasons we thought we needed to be isolated. Grace is the channel that reveals God's kindness that has no condition and a holiness that has no compromise.
We may believe in Jesus but in certain areas and under certain conditions abandon Him. The Spirit who will never abandon us will convict us. Not people or law... the Spirit will do it as He wills. He does it so we will believe. Belief is important to God. He can only fellowship with us in newness. Old things as far as He is concerned have passed away.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." Matthew 5:25 KJV
The adversary here is the Spirit of God. Belief in Christ is our plea bargain that keeps us from the trap of the old life.
HE CONVICTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is no righteousness outside of Christ. Christ is seated at God's right hand of approval. No one else has righteousness but Him. The one who believes in Christ is seated with Christ in that position. We have a breastplate of righteousness because the Spirit Gives it to us (and the Church since the armor is a corporate experience).
Everyone in the world without that assurance is jockeying for position in some way. They are looking back into the past for approval and forward into the future to get it. They want people on the left and right that they approve of and that approve of them.
The Spirit of God makes sure that if a person doesn't find rest in approval that is not centered in Christ. He also makes sure that those who find Christ find approval. This is part of God's work in the world for this season of history.
HE CONVICTS OF JUDGMENT. Evil has been weighed in the scales and found wanting. Past tense. Evil and the whole system it has produced has been judged and is under judgement.
That sparks anger and discomfort is the old man and relief in the new one. The old man wants what it knows. It wants the good things and the bad things in a Love / Hate kind of way. Those things have an illusion of control, possibilities for advancement and a way to preserve self.
The new man derives hope and relief from the knowledge of an end to contradiction and darkness and that the Sun of Righteousness will one day rise in the East (see Malachi 4:2; Matthew 24:27). Justice will one day be served up hot for a kingdom that desperately needs a kick in the teeth.
If we live in grace conviction is a good thing. It is a steering mechanism. We can quench the Spirit through rationalization. Or grieve the Spirit by a life of unbelief that bears fruit of unbelief. A return to the law will just bring us back into another kind of bondage and we will find no solution there. Conviction should bring us to Christ. Grace gives us a clear path to get to Him and find newness. When we live in newness conviction turns to love and we have vessels that can hold that love and distribute that love to others.
God... Help us today... turn me and I will be turned... speak to me and give me ears to hear what you are saying. Turn me to your Son and keep me from turning inward for answers and direction. I trust You today. Thank You for the work of Your Spirit. I can't imagine life without it.
The only faith that works is a faith that is working by Love. The only way to have that Love is if the Holy Spirit sheds it abroad in our hearts. Only new wine vessels can hold that Love. Old wine vessels just burst. That which is new must have a birth that came from the seed of the Word of God. That seed is incorruptible. That seed names the name of Christ who is the only name under Heaven that men might be saved and made new.
The Spirit sheds the Love of God in that which is new. He sheds conviction in that which is old. When does that happen? This verse gives that dynamic clearly if positional truth is understood as a doctrine.
HE CONVICTS OF SIN. In a finished work the Spirit convicts of sin. He convicts the one who does not believe in Christ and the one who is not believing in Christ. What would be Love shed abroad for the new man is conviction in the soul of someone living in old things and methods. It is not 'fear that has torment'... that comes from another source. The old man loves darkness as a shelter and falls prey to those things that live in darkness.
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." John 3:18-21 ESV
Believing ends our isolation. Grace removes the reasons we thought we needed to be isolated. Grace is the channel that reveals God's kindness that has no condition and a holiness that has no compromise.
We may believe in Jesus but in certain areas and under certain conditions abandon Him. The Spirit who will never abandon us will convict us. Not people or law... the Spirit will do it as He wills. He does it so we will believe. Belief is important to God. He can only fellowship with us in newness. Old things as far as He is concerned have passed away.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." Matthew 5:25 KJV
The adversary here is the Spirit of God. Belief in Christ is our plea bargain that keeps us from the trap of the old life.
HE CONVICTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is no righteousness outside of Christ. Christ is seated at God's right hand of approval. No one else has righteousness but Him. The one who believes in Christ is seated with Christ in that position. We have a breastplate of righteousness because the Spirit Gives it to us (and the Church since the armor is a corporate experience).
Everyone in the world without that assurance is jockeying for position in some way. They are looking back into the past for approval and forward into the future to get it. They want people on the left and right that they approve of and that approve of them.
The Spirit of God makes sure that if a person doesn't find rest in approval that is not centered in Christ. He also makes sure that those who find Christ find approval. This is part of God's work in the world for this season of history.
HE CONVICTS OF JUDGMENT. Evil has been weighed in the scales and found wanting. Past tense. Evil and the whole system it has produced has been judged and is under judgement.
That sparks anger and discomfort is the old man and relief in the new one. The old man wants what it knows. It wants the good things and the bad things in a Love / Hate kind of way. Those things have an illusion of control, possibilities for advancement and a way to preserve self.
The new man derives hope and relief from the knowledge of an end to contradiction and darkness and that the Sun of Righteousness will one day rise in the East (see Malachi 4:2; Matthew 24:27). Justice will one day be served up hot for a kingdom that desperately needs a kick in the teeth.
If we live in grace conviction is a good thing. It is a steering mechanism. We can quench the Spirit through rationalization. Or grieve the Spirit by a life of unbelief that bears fruit of unbelief. A return to the law will just bring us back into another kind of bondage and we will find no solution there. Conviction should bring us to Christ. Grace gives us a clear path to get to Him and find newness. When we live in newness conviction turns to love and we have vessels that can hold that love and distribute that love to others.
God... Help us today... turn me and I will be turned... speak to me and give me ears to hear what you are saying. Turn me to your Son and keep me from turning inward for answers and direction. I trust You today. Thank You for the work of Your Spirit. I can't imagine life without it.
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