Preparation of the Body of Christ

I'm still here - healthy and living in a fairly self-isolated way in Victoria, the premier COVID-19 state of Australia.

As some have noted, I haven't written anything for several weeks - either here or on social media.
Instead I have taken on a huge, but fascinating, study of  "spirit, soul and heart" from a Biblical perspective.
What are they, what is their role, how are they different, how do they interact with each other, etc. etc.????

I didn't plan to do any writing here until I had finished this study, but, as usual for me, I have fallen down several rabbit holes along the study trail, and thought I would mention one of them to you.

I have visited some of these rabbit holes before, but it's amazing how the Holy Spirit is always teaching you new things and challenging you in fresh ways, even in familiar surroundings.

The rabbit hole I want to share with you is one of the mysteries revealed to Paul that he shared with his young churches.

... the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
(Colossians 1 : 27  NIV)

... Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you ... ?
(2 Corinthians 13 : 5  NIV)

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
(Romans 8 : 10 - 11  NIV)

... whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
(1 Corinthians 6 : 17  NIV)

... Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, ...
(Galatians 2 : 20  KJV)*

I have dwelt on these and similar verses for hours (it was a deep rabbit hole) and have been challenged by some searching questions:

• What would Christ be doing through me if I really believed Him to be in me?
• If I am living empowered by the faith of Christ, not my own faith, what results should I expect to see?
• What sort of person should I be becoming with God's Spirit living in me?
• As a member of the Body of Christ, having been chosen to serve with Christ in His coming Kingdom, how is my preparation for this role going?

Would you like to explore these questions in your upcoming times of reading, praying and meditation and share some of your thoughts with me?

Blessings, Barry

* I have used the KJV here because it correctly translates whose faith we live by. I discussed this in more detail about three years ago here.

New Year Resolutions

A popular past-time for many people at this time of the year is to make (and break) new year resolutions.
These are most often centred around being materially or personally better off.
Favourite resolutions are to lose weight, quit smoking, save more/spend less, learn something new, exercise more, and other "me-focused" goals - all very worthy targets.

Disciples of Jesus might consider adding something more "other-focused" to these.
A recurring exhortation in both the Old and New Testaments is for God's people to love God and neighbour.
When Jesus was asked by a Jewish leader which commandment he considered was the most important, he replied:

"The most important one is this: 'Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
The second most important commandment is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'
There is no other commandment more important than these two."
[Mark 12 : 29 - 31  GNB]

So our added resolutions could be "to love God more" and "to be more loving to my neighbour".

And how could we do that?
Well, it depends on what we mean by love.
My definition: to love someone is to always want the best for them, and whenever the opportunity arises, to do that best for them.
(Notice that it has nothing to do with whether we like that someone or not.)

So, how could we love God more?
In other words, how could we do more of what would be best for God?
One way would be to represent him and his love for humanity more often and more faithfully.

... He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships.
In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn't hold people's faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others.
Therefore, we are Christ's representatives ...
[2 Corinthians 5 : 18 - 20  GW]

Then how could we love our neighbour more?
In other words, how could we do more of what would be best for our neighbour?
A back-handed answer is for us to become more Christ-like, as he was always doing the best for others.

Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.
[Romans 8 : 29  GNB]
All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.
[2 Corinthians 3 : 18  GNB]

We do this by allowing the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and correct us, so progressively transforming us into Christ-likeness.
Out of that Christ-likeness flows insight into what is best for our neighbour, prompting us into action.

I am amazed at how often the Holy Spirit prompts me to call, visit or pray for someone I have not even been thinking about and discover my contact has resulted in meeting a current need of that neighbour.
As well as transforming me, I am prompted to love my neighbour as Christ would. Indeed, he is loving them through me.

So what about the "me-focused" resolutions on my list?
How can these contribute to our loving God and neighbour more?
To be better off financially might allow us to be better providers for our families and give us more options for doing the best for our neighbour.
To lose weight (a perennial favourite) might be an admirable goal if it means carrying less weight makes us more effective and efficient in serving God and neighbour.
To learn something new might be just the thing the Holy Spirit wants us to use in loving our neighbour.

Disciples of Jesus have so many options when choosing resolutions for the new year together with the Holy Spirit's empowering to ensure those new goals last the distance.
And all of them can contribute to Jesus' call for us to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.

Wishing you a Spirit-guided and productive new year.
Blessings, Barry

Who or What is the Real Church? - Part 4

Fourthly, the Church has been given the Holy Spirit.
We have discussed so far that the Church is the Body of Christ, the community of those who have been called or chosen by God for a particular role in God's plan for His creation, and have been given the faith to embrace the gospel message that has been revealed to them.

The role God has for the Body will take more than human skills and effort, so it is not surprising that God has another gift He gives to prepare and equip them for it.

And that gift is the Holy Spirit.
Quoting Peter, speaking to a Jewish audience on the Day of Pentecost:

"Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit.  For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away—all whom the Lord our God calls to himself." 
[Acts 2 : 38 - 39 GNB]

Paul also affirms that the Gentiles God has chosen and to whom He has given faith are also given the Holy Spirit.

And you (Ephesian Gentiles) also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance ...
[Ephesians 1 : 13 - 14 NIV]

Paul then demonstrates this joint position with:

For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
[1 Corinthians 12 : 13 NIV]

So, as well as a guarantee of our inheritance, what benefit does this gift of the Holy Spirit give members of the Body?
They actually have God living in them and with them.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
[Romans 8 : 9 NIV]

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
[1 Corinthians 3 : 16 NIV]

What is God's purpose in this?

to teach them -

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
[Jesus quoted in John 14 : 26 NIV]

to help them make right decisions -

The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body.
[Colossians 3 : 15 GNB]

to fully reveal the purpose of Jesus' mission to them -

The helper whom I will send to you from the Father will come. This helper, the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, will declare the truth about me.
[Jesus quoted in John 15 : 26 GW]

to empower them -

And now I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, just as my Father promised. Don’t begin telling others yet—stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.
[Jesus quoted in Luke 24 : 49 TLB]

to mould them into the image of Christ -

And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
[2 Corinthians 3 : 18 NET]

So the real church, the Body of Christ, has been chosen, given faith and the Holy Spirit ... to do what?

Part 5 coming after Easter.
Blessings, Barry

That Unpardonable Sin

I know we have discussed this before (about 5 years ago), but today I was prompted to post a fresh thought on this most interesting verse.
Here it is ...

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. [Matthew 12 : 32  NIV]

Firstly, let's make the obvious comment.
There is no unpardonable or unforgivable sin.  How can there be?  
Regardless of what this verse might or might not say, Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for all our sins, as we have been assured many times through the Bible.  For example 1 John 2:2; 2 Corinthians 5:19.

Secondly, by looking at our verse here, we can see that this is also true.
All sin against Jesus will be forgiven - a statement of assurance.

Sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this age (the age in which Jesus lived and spoke these words) or in the age to come (the church age in which we are currently living). 
However, the age after that, which includes the judgement pictured by the Great White Throne and the purification and cleansing pictured by the Lake of Fire, will surely look after this sin.

Whatever speaking against the Holy Spirit means or includes, it must wait until a future age to be forgiven. This seems to indicate that people who have committed this sin will miss reigning with Jesus in his kingdom, will not be resurrected until the final age begins, so will be among the last to be prepared for eternal fellowship with God.

Blessings, Barry

The Cancer Parable

Those who have been following our family cancer journey will know that for several months I have been researching alternative treatments that might kill and/or prevent cancer.

One of the things I have learned is that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment, while healthy cells flourish.
These destructive little cancer critters are themselves destroyed when the body they are invading is alkaline - has a PH somewhat above 7.

So Darrell, who has had his third case of brain cancer in less than 10 months, is working at maintaining his PH at 8 or 9, a level which is about 50 or 60 times more alkaline than it normally is.
If the science we have been reading is correct, Darrell's cancer cells (and any other unwelcome products of an acidic environment) should be killed in this environment and expelled from his body.

I have also been thinking a lot about the kingdom of God lately, and how we can live successfully as participants in it.
And I've been noticing an interesting parallel with my cancer research.

If the Scriptures are correct, being filled with the Holy Spirit also produces two outcomes.
Firstly, the sin/worldliness in us is killed and expelled from our lives and ministry, as evil cannot survive in a spirit-filled environment.
Secondly, the good/Godliness already in us is enriched and empowered to be even more effective in kingdom duties and responsibilities.

So just as Darrell is working to keep his body more alkaline to rid his body of unwanted nasties and to enrich his healthy cells and organs, we need to work at keeping ourselves more spiritually saturated and Christ-oriented to rid ourselves of the nasties that compromise our witness as followers of Jesus and to make us more responsible and productive members of Christ's kingdom.

Blessings, Barry