Monthly Archives: January 2016

Functions – Not Titles

Bible Study, , , ,

FUNCTIONS – NOT TITLES

But to each of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. That is why it says:

‘When He ascended on high, He led captives in His train and gave gifts to men.’

(What does “He ascended” mean except that He descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe). It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4: 7-13).

Here we have another one of Paul’s monstrous mouthfuls of revelation truth! From where did Paul get these loft ideas if not from the Holy Spirit?

According to Paul, first of all, every function a believer fulfils in the body of Christ is based on our unity in Him. There is not one person in the church who is superior in person or function to another. We all fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle or the tiles in a mosaic. If one is missing, the picture is incomplete. There is no such thing as priesthood and laity, for every believer is a priest since we are all to worship God by offering the appointed and appropriate sacrifices to God.

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and has made us to become a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father – to Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen (Rev. 1: 5b-6).

The consistent message of Scripture is that Jesus Christ is head of His church, which is His body. It is impossible for the church to be the body of Christ and yet for some fallible mortal to be the head. He alone has the right to lead and direct His body according to His will. Those whom He has chosen to have human responsibilities in the church must, first of all, be absolutely one with Him, walking in intimate fellowship with Him and submitting to Him as Lord in all.

Secondly, Jesus has the right to appoint people to functions within His church and to gift them with the ability to carry out those functions for Him and through Him. Spiritual gifts do not belong to the people who exercise them. They belong to Jesus and they are to be used to build up the members if His body, not to lord it over them with assumed superiority and authority. Gifts are given for service, not for aggrandisement. Every person to whom He has given a responsibility in His body is accountable to Him for its use and influence.

Thirdly, within the body, we are all subject to and accountable to one another. Mutual submission in humility is the hallmark of unity. Even those whom Jesus has appointed to leadership positions and positions of authority are not above correction. The armour of God makes no provision to protect our backs. Just as the soldiers in the Roman army marched in rank, their shields protecting their chests from flying arrows and their fellow soldiers protecting their backs, so we, as we do life together, are to cover one another’s backs.

The tragedy within the church is that we act more like the world than the body of Christ. The church is neither a business nor an organisation. It is a living organism, functioning like a human body in absolute unity because we are to be a reflection of God, the Three-in-One. When a system or a cell malfunctions in a human body, it becomes sick and will die if the condition is not cured. There is no competition in the body for prestige or position, yet local expressions of Christ’s body are often a hotbed of conflict. Power struggles, not unity and harmony, tear the people apart. Selfish ambition, not love and humility, drives its leaders. Men masquerade as apostles and prophets, claiming and loving the titles rather than serving the body in the humility of their function.

Isn’t it any wonder that the church has become irrelevant in the world and the butt of jokes rather than the evidence of Christ’s invasion of earth to bring the kingdom of God into sin-infested humanity! Jesus gave His disciples two sure-fire signs of the truth of His coming and evidence of the change He brought to the human heart.

A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another (John 13: 34-35).

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17: 20-21).

Love and unity – these are impossible requirements for people whom the Holy Spirit has never changed from within. These qualities in a group of people reveal a power at work far greater than human effort. Our selfish and independent hearts will never submit to any other outside of the power of God’s Spirit.

True followers of Jesus are to imitate Him. He is humble and gentle in heart, a servant leader. He requires that we exercise the gifts He has given in the spirit and disposition of Jesus, otherwise, we are nothing but wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

Wear The Yoke Of Jesus

Bible Study, , , ,

WEAR THE YOKE OF JESUS

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4: 1-6).

In this letter, in which he did not deal with false doctrine or practical problems in the church or in the individual’s lives, Paul followed his usual pattern of basing his practical appeal on doctrinal teaching, explaining the implications of what God had done for them in Christ through His death and resurrection and calling them to respond in faith and obedience.

Paul continued the Old Testament concept of life as a journey and faith in Jesus as a walk with Him. He appealed to his readers to follow Jesus in a manner worthy of their calling. To what were they called? They were called out of the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, out of disobedience to God and a life of sin – transgression of God’s laws and the self-destruction which was the inevitable result, to a life of faith in God and obedience to Jesus as Lord.

They no longer belonged to the world system with its greedy and selfish pursuits, but to the kingdom of God, under His authority and living in obedience to His standards because they had been made spiritually alive and able to hear and respond to His Spirit in them. This kingdom required a new attitude and outlook on life. No longer were they under the devil’s influence and held in bondage to sin. They were free to express the life of God in them by their love for God and for one another.

This must have been a “mind-blowing” experience for people who knew nothing but idolatry and the terrible behaviour idolatry produced. Out of this depraved lifestyle flowed the fear, guilt and shame with which their consciences responded and which they could not silence. Peace with God through Jesus brought freedom from fear and inward rest which was both new and indescribably wonderful to them.

Paul appealed to his readers to maintain that peace by wearing the yoke of Jesus characterised by humility and gentleness. Remember Jesus’ words?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).

Jesus was speaking to those who were burdened by a religious system that demanded endless rule-keeping in order to gain the acceptance of a God whom they believed to be demanding and relentless in his requirements for holiness. Jesus offered a way of life that freed them from this legalistic bondage.  He called them to imitate Him and they would be free to live in peace and harmony with God and with one another.

“Gentle and humble”? Is it possible to tame our selfish and unruly hearts so that we are content to be who we are and to enjoy what we have without being in constant conflict and competition with others? Yes, it is! Through Jesus, God has removed our sin and the reason for the fear, guilt and shame that underlies our aggression towards our fellow human beings.

He has sent His Spirit to live in our hearts as His representative, to give us the power to overcome the ravages of our old, sinful nature. We are no longer bound to be selfish and antagonistic towards others. God has poured His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit in us. We are free to follow Jesus and to apply His yoke of patience, gentleness and humility in our attitude towards others.

Have you ever been in situations where the old nature rises up and demands to be allowed to react? I have! How does one deal with oneself on these occasions? Time and again I have had to remind myself that, as a disciple of Jesus, I am called to follow Him and to imitate Him. To my surprise, I find that the decision to let my anger and irritation go brings the power to do it. I allow my thoughts to return to the truth that I am a daughter of the Father. He is in me by His Spirit and His Spirit causes me to think and act in patience, gentleness and humility as one who bears the image of His Son.

These are the practical ways in which I am able to express the life of God in me. It is a journey, not an easy one because I have my old, sinful nature to contend with, to subdue and the new nature of love to nurture. But, as I practise and learn, I progress, however slowly and falteringly, towards the goal of becoming like Jesus in His gentleness and humility.

Being a Christian is not about going to church, carrying out religious rituals and keeping rules. It’s about following Jesus, learning to be submissive and obedient children of God, doing and being what He wants and responding to Him in unwavering trust whatever comes our way in life. The Holy Spirit in us is our personal companion and guide. He will lead us unerringly to the Father as we learn to hear His voice and respond to Him.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

Immeasurably More!

Bible Study, , , ,

IMMEASURABLY MORE!

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for even and ever! Amen (Eph. 3: 20-21).

How typical of Paul to break out into an exclamation of praise! Packed into this outburst is a wealth of truth which will enrich our understanding of our heavenly Father if we mine the gold of its meaning.

Paul passionately longed that his readers would experience God’s love in its fullness which, in the end, is as measureless as God Himself. No matter how vast the dimensions of God’s love, like the universe around and above us, we will never exhaust that love or reach the limits of what God has for us, supplied by this love. As the old hymn states:

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring;

For His grace and power are such,

None can ever ask too much.

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/you-can-never-ask-too-much – retrieved January 2016.

How tragic that most of us are satisfied to paddle in the shallows of God’s love when we can explore and embrace His love in its inexhaustible magnitude if we but leave our selfish selves and delve into God, our Father!

How can we know a love like this which is beyond knowing? This is the paradox. The more we know, the more we realise that we do not know and that there is so much more to know. I will dare to suggest a few ways in which we can move out of our comfortable personal environment into new and yet unexplored ways of knowing God?

  1. The first way to get to know God is to pray David’s simple prayer in Psa. 86:11.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

The Father loves to answer a sincere cry to know Him. He will open the door to the treasure stores of understanding His ways to anyone who diligently and sincerely seeks Him.

  1. God is knowable when we open our hearts in generosity and mercy to those who are or have less than ourselves. God rebuked King Shallum for greed and commended his father, King Josiah for showing compassion to the poor.

‘Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord (Je. 22: 15-16).

  1. Knowing God is about gazing at His glory. How do we do that? We are transformed as we contemplate Jesus, who is the image of the Father. Spend time in the gospels, following watching and listening to Him. You will be thrilled with the revelation of Jesus the Holy Spirit will give you as you contemplate Him.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect (contemplate) the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3: 18).

  1. Seek His face. We are so opportunistic that we continually seek God for what we want and not for who He is. How often I hear the phrase from the lips of a child of God, “I am believing God for. . . “ as though our relationship with Him is nothing more than beggars wanting handouts! God is our Father; we are His sons and daughters. Knowing God is so much more than treating Him as a celestial vending machine.

Our Father has promised us that He will take care of all our physical and material needs as we focus on doing His will and seeking His kingdom first (Matt. 6:33).

Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always (Psa. 105: 4).

God is love. To seek Him and to know Him is to become aware of the immensity of the love that He pours into our lives, even in the seeming disasters and adversities that come our way. What if, instead of whining and moaning, and questioning His love when trials and tragedy hit, we seek His face and find, to our surprise and joy, that He is able to do immeasurably more than our finite minds can imagine when we trust His love and allow Him to be God when life makes no sense.

After all, He is writing a much bigger story than our short chapter; He is painting on a much bigger canvas than our little corner. When God is free to be God in our lives without the restrictions of fear and mistrust, He will do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine, according to the power at work in us. He is at work to reproduce the image of Jesus in us.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

A Superlative Prayer

Bible Study, , , , , ,

 

A SUPERLATIVE PRAYER

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph. 3: 14-19).

Once again, we must read Paul’s prayer against the background of the Ephesian church. Some of the believers were Gentiles who had, not long before, come out of paganism, superstition and witchcraft. They had been despised by the Jews, but now they were part of a new race and a new culture – the race of God’s people, Jew and Gentile together making up an entirely new people group with a new culture based on the standards and principles of God’s kingdom, with Jesus at the head. He was their new authority and they were under His Lordship which took precedence over everything they had believed and practised in the past.

Paul had not only spent three years preaching in Ephesus and teaching the new believers the fundamentals of their faith, he also prayed earnestly for them and longed for them to have the inner assurance of the new status and standing they had with the Father.

Everything they had come to believe in was based on God’s mercy in reinstating them to sonship in His family. Until Jesus came, God’s name, Father, was not known. Jesus both revealed the Father by His life and removed the barrier of sin by His death so that all of God’s wayward children might hear the invitation to come home. Like the prodigal in Jesus’ story, God’s sons are either slaves to sin by their rebellion or slaves to religion by their pathetic attempt to be righteous by their adherence to rules.

Both have missed the mark but they have never ceased to be sons. God is not interested or impressed by our efforts to gain His favour. He has already done what was necessary to remove our sin and to reconcile us to Himself. He only asks that we accept His free pardon, return to His family and submit to His authority.

God’s love for us is immeasurable – Paul tried to describe how boundary-less that love is – and freely given to us through Jesus. How can we ever begin to experience the love of God in our lives? The first step is to create an environment in our hearts where Jesus feels at home. He cannot feel comfortable where there are attitudes and emotions that contradict His nature. When our hearts are still filled with prejudice, unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, anger and fear, He cannot rest.

He has provided the solution to our old ways of thinking and reacting – He has shown us mercy and forgiven all our bad attitudes and actions towards others. He has given us the power of the Holy Spirit who is resident in us to let go of our hurts and grievances, real or perceived – to who mercy to others as He has shown mercy to us. When our hearts are no longer cluttered with the garbage of sin, He will settle in as a permanent resident and being to fill us with the attitudes and emotions that make Him feel comfortable.

Love, joy and peace are the “furnishings” of His home. The more we dwell on the magnitude of His love and recognise His presence in the circumstances of our lives, good or bad, the more we will recognise and experience His love in spite of the ungodly environment in which we live. Really experiencing the love of God comes, not by stoically bearing whatever comes our way but by consciously dwelling on and trusting in His love in spite of everything. Jesus did, and He came out trumps.

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4: 18).

Fear, not hatred, is the opposite of love. Fear (the fear of punishment because we think God is still mad with us), will nullify our awareness and experience of the love of God. Our confidence in the Father is founded on our standing as His sons and daughters. Everything we are and everything God has for us is rooted in the truth that we are God’s beloved children. Those who have returned to the Father through faith in His Son, have been forgiven, reconciled and restored to the family and reinstated as His sons and daughters.

God will never punish us for any failure or sin because Jesus has already paid the price in full. Any hardships we experience in life are evidence that we are God’s children. As a Father, He has the right to discipline us so that we can be true reflections of our elder brother, Jesus.

Take heart, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how tough life is for you; not matter how uncertain your circumstances, if you have complete confidence in the greatness of the Father’s love for you, you will never be shaken, and God will surprise you with His goodness in every possible way. Armed with the reality of such great love, you will be free to be generous with your love and mercy towards others as God has been towards you.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

The Cosmic Christ

Bible Study, , ,

THE COSMIC CHRIST

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory (Eph. 3: 10-13).

God’s plan, seems, is even bigger than bringing Jew and Gentile together under the Lordship of Christ, as powerful as that is. Through the church, that is, Jew and Gentile bonded together as a new family under the headship of Jesus, God will reveal His many-coloured or variegated wisdom to the powers and authorities that have defied and opposed Him since the rebellion of Satan at the beginning of creation.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan lied to the woman and lured the first pair into blatant rebellion and disobedience by calling in question the character of God. Through this one act of defiance, the entire human race was barred from enjoying the presence of God, from access to Him as their Father, and from experiencing the blessings of fellowship with Him and receiving His favour as His children.

Through His life, death and resurrection, Jesus took the punishment for man’s rebellion, reversed the curse of sin on the human race and reinstated all those who believe in Him as children of God, with the right of access to the Father restored. With the penalty of sin removed and the threat of punishment no longer hanging over us, we have the freedom and confidence to approach the Father because He has stretched out the golden sceptre to receive us.

Why do we call Jesus “the cosmic Christ”? He is not just an insignificant Jewish deity but the Son of the living God, the Creator of the ends of the earth and the sustainer of all things. Satan deceived the representatives of humankind, in full view and with the support of the rebellious angels and lured them into believing his lie. Paul called them “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”. They are the powerful and influential spirit beings who have led the whole world astray.

God has chosen, through the church – which is the body of Christ and the visible evidence of the wisdom and power of God – to vindicate His name by justifying and reinstating His children to sonship through the death of His Son. Satan believed that, by manipulating the religious and political powers to kill His Son, he would get rid of the one person who could expose him and bring about his downfall. Fool that he was, he did not understand that he had played right into God’s hands!

By getting Jesus killed for no sin of His own, Satan proved that he was the liar, not God, and sealed his own doom and the doom of all those who side with him, both human and angelic. He insinuated to Eve that God was lying when He said they would die if they disobeyed His instruction. The devil promised them god-like knowledge of good and evil. He suggested that they could call the shots and get away with it. They did not need to submit to God’s authority. They could set up their own, not realising that Satan’s ploy was to get them to submit to his authority until it was too late.

Paul wrote to the church at Rome of the eager expectation of the cosmos, waiting for God to pull back the curtain and reveal, once and for all, His masterpiece, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, sons and daughters of God who have been redeemed and perfected through the sacrifice of His Son. In that instant, the effects of the death of Jesus will be felt in the entire universe. God will restore everything that was disrupted by sin to its original perfection. The revelation of God’s sons and daughters will trigger this cosmic event.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creations was subject to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8: 19-21).

Yes, Jesus is indeed the cosmic Christ – redeeming and restoring all of creation from the devil’s grasp and influence to reset God plan to His original intention, the entire universe of animate and inanimate creation functioning together in perfect unity and harmony to reveal, once and for all to the rebellious angelic hosts that God is one, and that He is in fact, in charge. Satan and his minions will be banished and destroyed in the place prepared for them and we shall reign with Jesus forever and ever.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?