DEAD TO LIFE IN THE LAW. ALIVE TO CHRIST OUR LIFE
23/04/21 13:43
As a little boy my Mum told me other denominations believed that the law had been done away with by the cross. The fact is, it had. But what replaced it was Christ incarnated in us. Better by far than words on stone.
The soil of Kingdom growth is the trinity. The dynamic of the new creation is the triune God in us. The manifestation of the Kingdom in everyday life is Christ in you.
Some think that a fix for the Christian Church is to be found in bolting Holy Spirit like a super-charger onto Adam. Others think it’s putting Holy Spirit oil onto Moses. Jesus thinks Kingdom life happens when His life is incarnated as our life.
‘On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you’ John 14.20 NIV.
Anointing Moses with the Holy Spirit is no more effective than putting a saddle on a dog and treating it as a horse. A stockman cannot make a horse out of a dog and we cannot make the Kingdom of God out of the old covenant.
DOING WHAT JESUS IS DOING
‘For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory’ Col 3.3,4 NIV. The question is, have we ‘died’ to rise in Christ or do we remain participants in this body of death?
‘Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ Rom 7.24,25 NIV. The body of death is Adam in general and Moses in particular. Moses is in the grave. Christ is alive and in you.
Attempts have been made to revive Christianity with the anointing of Holy Spirit and with charismatic usages. This begins well but inevitably fades. That which begins with hope bleeds out and goes dormant. Believers are left, going over old ground and looking for new solutions to the problem of living in the separation of the old covenant and law. But they could be living in their union with God.
ONENESS IS YOURS
‘But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him’ 1 Cor 6.17 NLT. Jesus calls us to live in what we have – in the Spirit of One.
EXPRESSIONS OF CHRIST
We have this life that is the trinity in us and us in the trinity. It is our possession. The atonement/incarnation is the soil that is not just words, but a state of 0ur being one with God. There is a manifest presence in the world that is more basic than spiritual manifestations. The manifestation of the trinity where you are is you. Just as Jesus was the living word of God so are you – you as a son/daughter are Christ come in the flesh.
The addition of Holy Spirit to and old covenant mindset produce the Kingdom of God because Holy Spirit has no root. Reconciliation is ours in the person of Jesus. In the new covenant age Holy Spirit and the gifts grow from our union with God achieved by the finished work of Jesus and the complete and all sufficient at-one-ment of Christ. Kingdom fruitfulness comes from rootedness in the soil of the trinity. Nothing of value can come from having roots in the abstraction of the law, performance, church growth theory or institutionalism. What counts is being born again into oneness with Jesus.
BORN FROM WHAT?
From where are you born? You are born from the womb of the trinity – the hub of all life. Rooted here as sons and daughter we can do better than theologise and present arguably good theology. We can be the expression of the wisdom and revelation of God as a living word.
OPENESS TO LIFE
Richard Rohr writes, “One has to let go of the usual logical thought patterns and move to a broader, more contemplative mind to solve the riddles. Their function is to get them beyond their certitudes and ego-securities, to return them to a childlike openness, so that they can be taught again and let go of their present comfort zone. This is exactly what Jesus is saying in chapter 9 of John’s Gospel. “Because you say, ‘we see,’ you are blind.” Religion has lost sight of Jesus’ message here. It has not tended to create seekers or searchers, has not tended to create honest humble people who trust that God is always beyond them. We aren’t focused on the great mystery. Rather religion has tended to create people who think they have God in their pockets, people with quick, easy, glib answers. That’s why so much of the West is understandably abandoning religion. People know the great mystery cannot be that simple and facile. If the great mystery is indeed the Great Mystery, it will lead us into paradox, into darkness, and into journeys that never cease. That is what prayer is about.” (1) It’s what Christ our life is about.
The soil of Kingdom growth is the trinity. The dynamic of the new creation is the triune God in us. The manifestation of the Kingdom in everyday life is Christ in you.
Some think that a fix for the Christian Church is to be found in bolting Holy Spirit like a super-charger onto Adam. Others think it’s putting Holy Spirit oil onto Moses. Jesus thinks Kingdom life happens when His life is incarnated as our life.
‘On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you’ John 14.20 NIV.
Anointing Moses with the Holy Spirit is no more effective than putting a saddle on a dog and treating it as a horse. A stockman cannot make a horse out of a dog and we cannot make the Kingdom of God out of the old covenant.
DOING WHAT JESUS IS DOING
‘For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory’ Col 3.3,4 NIV. The question is, have we ‘died’ to rise in Christ or do we remain participants in this body of death?
‘Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ Rom 7.24,25 NIV. The body of death is Adam in general and Moses in particular. Moses is in the grave. Christ is alive and in you.
Attempts have been made to revive Christianity with the anointing of Holy Spirit and with charismatic usages. This begins well but inevitably fades. That which begins with hope bleeds out and goes dormant. Believers are left, going over old ground and looking for new solutions to the problem of living in the separation of the old covenant and law. But they could be living in their union with God.
ONENESS IS YOURS
‘But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him’ 1 Cor 6.17 NLT. Jesus calls us to live in what we have – in the Spirit of One.
EXPRESSIONS OF CHRIST
We have this life that is the trinity in us and us in the trinity. It is our possession. The atonement/incarnation is the soil that is not just words, but a state of 0ur being one with God. There is a manifest presence in the world that is more basic than spiritual manifestations. The manifestation of the trinity where you are is you. Just as Jesus was the living word of God so are you – you as a son/daughter are Christ come in the flesh.
The addition of Holy Spirit to and old covenant mindset produce the Kingdom of God because Holy Spirit has no root. Reconciliation is ours in the person of Jesus. In the new covenant age Holy Spirit and the gifts grow from our union with God achieved by the finished work of Jesus and the complete and all sufficient at-one-ment of Christ. Kingdom fruitfulness comes from rootedness in the soil of the trinity. Nothing of value can come from having roots in the abstraction of the law, performance, church growth theory or institutionalism. What counts is being born again into oneness with Jesus.
BORN FROM WHAT?
From where are you born? You are born from the womb of the trinity – the hub of all life. Rooted here as sons and daughter we can do better than theologise and present arguably good theology. We can be the expression of the wisdom and revelation of God as a living word.
OPENESS TO LIFE
Richard Rohr writes, “One has to let go of the usual logical thought patterns and move to a broader, more contemplative mind to solve the riddles. Their function is to get them beyond their certitudes and ego-securities, to return them to a childlike openness, so that they can be taught again and let go of their present comfort zone. This is exactly what Jesus is saying in chapter 9 of John’s Gospel. “Because you say, ‘we see,’ you are blind.” Religion has lost sight of Jesus’ message here. It has not tended to create seekers or searchers, has not tended to create honest humble people who trust that God is always beyond them. We aren’t focused on the great mystery. Rather religion has tended to create people who think they have God in their pockets, people with quick, easy, glib answers. That’s why so much of the West is understandably abandoning religion. People know the great mystery cannot be that simple and facile. If the great mystery is indeed the Great Mystery, it will lead us into paradox, into darkness, and into journeys that never cease. That is what prayer is about.” (1) It’s what Christ our life is about.