I was made aware some years ago that my mannerisms, the way I speak or approach others can be intimidating and/or discourteous. Though this is not my conscious intent it does not change the fact that I can produce in others a defensive or retaliatory response, especially from those who do not know me well. This means that I may find myself in a place of enmity from which I need to repent and rectify.

If the result of my ‘inadvertent’ aggression produces a need to apologise and repent then it is a pattern of sin that needs to be overcome. I know that I have forgiveness through Christ (1 John 1:7-9) but I also realised that it is better to not cause offense than rest in forgiveness. So, my prayer does not end with “I am a sinner Lord, please forgive me”, but moves on to a plea for deliverance from the power of sin. A prayer that says, “Holy Spirit, deliver me through the power of the cross from this obnoxious flesh, that I may not cause offense through my sin-nature. Let my human interactions be to the praise of your glory”. If I cause offense let it be the offense of the cross and not the offense of my sinful self.

Justification

The doctrine of justification is an amazing revelation of God in Jesus Christ. To be justified in the opinion of God; to be free from the guilt of sin; to be at peace with God by grace alone produces in my heart an overwhelming desire to burst forth in praise of His majesty.

This must be Apostle Paul’s experience as he wrote letters to various churches, for throughout these letters we see pockets of spontaneous praise burst forth from the pages (cf Rom 11:36ff; Eph 1:6).

In positing the title “beyond forgiveness” I have no intention of diminishing this amazing truth but rather I want to add an often-overlooked dimension. Also, I do not write with the belief that we have fully grasped nor walk in the fullness of the knowledge of the wisdom of God in justification and feel that if it was preached more and understood better and meditated on there would be a greater freedom in the churches to glorify God¹.

The point to which I want to draw attention is the attitude of God’s people to go beyond a heart of repentance and pursue the heart of freedom from the power of sin. The desire of the heart should go beyond the knowledge of forgiveness and seek to be delivered from sin itself. Not to rest on the knowledge that if I sin I can be forgiven but that through forgiveness I can receive power to stop sinning – to no longer be a slave to the whims and passions of the flesh, of the worlds system of thinking, or of the patterns of death. That is, the desire to be sanctified.

Sanctification

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

—Romans 6:22, New International Version

R.T. Kendall (Understanding theology [Volume 1] 1999:168) calls sanctification “the doctrine of gratitude”.

This makes sense to me. If I have fully comprehended the depravity of fallen humanity; the abhorrence of sin to God; the wrath of God towards sin; and the grace of total forgiveness, I cannot help but be overcome with gratitude. This gratitude has no power to justify me or to make me pure it is my disposition towards holiness: A desire to not sin.

Delivered from the Power of Sin

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

—1 John 1:9 (NIV)

The idea of ‘purify’ is described this way, “In virtue of the sacrificial death of Christ, Christians are a new and purified people for God’s possession, able and willing to perform the corresponding works (Tt. 2:14; cf. 1 Jn. 1:7, 9).”² The emphasis I want to make is on the phrase “able and willing”. In the Greek the word purify has a sense of deliverance from the power of sin: A change of desire and a spiritual impartation that empowers us for holy living.

In the Old Testament the forgiveness that is offered through the blood of animals – a type/shadow of the reality that was to be found in the blood of Jesus – was a covering-over of sin, the blood of Jesus in the New Covenant is a removal of sin, making the worshipper perfect (Heb 10:1-4).

The End of the Matter

It is essential that we grow in the knowledge of the Father and the Son, especially understanding our position before God. This understanding should produce in us a gratitude before God that sees us move from living retrospectively, sinning, repenting and seeking forgiveness, to one that seeks the eternal nature of God in purity. A passionate desire to be free from the tyranny of the law – guilt and condemnation of sin; from the tyranny of the flesh – our sinful self-centred (lustful) nature; the tyranny of the world – worldly patterns of thought and values; and the tyranny of death – fear. These tyrannies produce in us every kind of evil – it is the law of sin and death. The law of life in Christ Jesus, which sets us free, is an empowerment to live as the new creation, to go beyond the relief of forgiveness and pursue the joy of Christ-likeness: living free from the power of sin.

My desire is to never neglect the need for confession and repentance and to pursue the Spirit’s empowerment to overcome sin so that holiness reigns in me.

Forgiveness is God’s grace; holiness is God’s design.

Footnotes

¹ “Unless you understand first of all what our position is before God, and what the judgement which he passes on you, you have no foundation on which your salvation can be laid, or on which piety towards God can be reared.” John Calvin, institutes of the Christian religion book third: chapter 11: section 1

² Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Introduction

In the midst of a conversation dealing with the contemporary discipleship crisis, I sensed forcefully the Spirit saying that every space is holy and created for the making of disciples. This teaching is a call for disciple-making in a global context, for this is where the wisdom of God has confronted Western Christianity with two movements that expose its impotency. The first of these is radical Islam.

The power of Islam is that it offers a unified vision of all of life: religion, politics, culture, economics, family and so on are a seamless whole. An Islamic theocracy sees no need to allow its citizens “space to choose”¹; the all embracing requirements of Allah require only submission. Lacking the power of genuine religion (2 Tim 3:5) most Western Christians either pretend that true Islam is a “peaceful religion” or resort to political rhetoric. This is because mainstream affluent Christian culture has succumbed to foundational influences emanating from the other global movement of today, postmodernism.

Postmodernism is a complete socio-cultural phenomenon² which absolutises the place of the individual. A postmodern worldview³ is deeply suspicious of any ideology or institution that impinges upon their personal right to choose. Others can live how they wish, as long as it does not impinge upon my chosen lifestyle⁴. In the postmodern view God is reduced to a means to a more comfortable lifestyle.

Without a new and total vision of reality, free from both the constraints of exterior authoritarianism, as in Islam, and rampant individualism, as in postmodernism, the Western church is doomed to continuing powerlessness. This paper is an attempt to outline such a vision.

GodSpace

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:10). The Father, Son and Spirit have no private space but only interpersonal space. Each member of the Godhead exists only in(side) their relationships with the others. God’s own “space” is completely full of himself, filled to the full with mutual love (1 John 4:8). The presence of God is the life of God. Scripture attempts to communicate these ineffable truths by stretching our imaginations beyond constraint.

The revelation of the divine name to Moses, ““I AM WHO I AM.”“ (Ex 3:14)⁵, is virtually imponderable. It does however signify that the LORD is not subject to the restrictions of space-time which define his creatures. Similarly, when the heavenly beings closest to the throne of God ceaselessly cry aloud, ““Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”“ (Rev 4:8), we are in the same realm of illimitability over space and time. Such immeasurable sovereignty can be perceived as either a threat or a promise.

Created Space

The mystery of the beginning of creation (Gen 1:1) is incomprehensible in the language of physics or mathematics because it is fully personal. Space-time came into being as the coordinated loving will of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was extended to include creatures in the divine life. God is the source of the space in which we live and the time in which we travel, “‘in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:28). If God was to withdraw his upholding presence from the world (Heb 1:3) it would immediately collapse back into non existence.

The ultimate meaning of all space-time is that it exists for loving fellowship. This is conveyed in the saying, “covenant is the internal basis of creation.” (Barth). There is a creation because God willed to have a covenant partner in love with him as he is with us.

The biblical creation story is filled out in the history of Israel whose deepest identity is that of God’s beloved son (Ex 4:23; Jer 31:20). The Old Testament teaches us through the law and the prophets that the world is a training school in the way of God. The inner purpose of existence is the disciplining of the sons of God. This was a lesson that God’s first son Adam (Luke 3:38) was called to learn.

Losing Space

As a covenant son (Hos 6:7) Adam was called to grow both inwardly and outwardly. The outward movement of filling the earth with the Lord’s presence (Gen 1:26) would flow from his inner transformation. The key to inner growth was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, for “knowledge” means insight⁶. Access to this tree was however specifically prohibited by God (Gen 2:17).

Satan’s great temptation to induce Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge for the seemingly noble purpose “to make one wise” (Gen 3:6). This would mean the personal ability to see into the moral structure of the universe of good-and-evil. To “become like God” would grant sovereign moral autonomy; whatever I decide is good is good for me, and whatever I decide is evil is evil for me. Such individualistic aspirations however totally fail to understand the relational power of holiness.

Holiness means separation from all that would separate us from the presence of God⁷. God is supremely holy because Father, Son and Spirit are fully bonded to one another as they share the one goodness, righteousness, wisdom and so on. The three Persons of the Trinity are fully aware of each other’s inner world. For a creature to be fully holy would involve a decision of the will to attach itself to God’s presence and activity in all things, and so to see God as he sees himself in everything. If Adam and Eve had obeyed God in holy fear⁸ concerning the tree of knowledge the eyes of their heart would have been enlightened (Ps 19:8; Eph 1:18) to see the intensity of the divine presence in everything⁹. In immediately seeing the tree of knowledge they would have hated evil as God hates it and loved good as God loves it. The discipline of God would have reached its goal for his first sons would have been perfected in love.

Adam and Eve chose however their own self-interest and self importance. They suddenly saw in themselves shame and guilt, and perceived God as harsh Judge whose holiness must be avoided at all costs. God avoidance comes through idolatry, attributing ultimate status to entities that are not God (Gal 4:8). This may be the religious idol called “Allah”, or the postmodern idol that goes by the name “self”. Only God himself can re-teach us who he truly is. It is Jesus who must reclaim human space for God.

Space refilled

In Jesus divine and human space is one, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily“ (Col 2:9). Every place in his life was filled with “the Spirit without measure” (John 3:34). Jesus had no consciousness of a private space; neither was he constrained by social pressures to conform to any values or behaviours outside his Father. Being completely set apart he was the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24; John 6:69) an as the Son of God (Luke 1:35) all things were open to his discernment. “He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.” (John 2:25). Seeing the presence and moving direction of the Father in everything his prayers for the action of the kingdom of God were always heard (John 11:42).

The one great exception to this is the cry of dereliction, ““there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” … “at the ninth hour Jesus cried with aloud voice…“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”“ (Mark 15:33-34). The darkness which engulfs Jesus is the darkness of the Day of Judgement (Joel 2:31; Amos 5:8, 18; Acts 2:20). Christ has been plunged into the “outer darkness” (Matt 8:12), where the purposes of God cannot be discerned and one is left only with self-consciousness. This is the ultimate private space, and it is hell. This is how Jesus carries away the old fallen sphere of space-time

The resurrection means a whole new creation where “the knowledge of the glory of God” (Hab 2:14) is accessible to the redeemed. Since “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things“ (Col 1:19-20) it is now possible for the saints to see, understand and share in God’s universal purpose in everything. This is how we can fulfil Jesus’ great commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19).

Sacred Space Everywhere

A Christian is someone who has received the Spirit of the glorified Lord (John 7:39; Rom 8:9)¹⁰ who is sovereign Lord (Acts 10:36) of every element of space time. It is the glorious commission of the church is God’s to make this presence known everywhere, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:22-23)¹¹. The grand destiny of the people of God is to participate with Christ in the Father’s plan, “his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph 1:9-10). Our vision is not more or larger churches but that the whole of space-time is filled with the grandeur of Christ.

This supreme destiny becomes truly real as we become conscious of our Bridal status. In the covenant of marriage no private space belongs to one partner alone – the total, permanent and exclusive¹² nature of husband-wife sharing is the very essence of matrimony. As such, the Bride of Christ has no space independent of her Lord and Bridegroom. Our life in Christ means all space is a holy space consecrated by him for our discipleship (John 17:19).

With such insights a whole panorama opens up. Firstly and foundationally, Christian husbands and wives recognise their earthly spouse is God’s primary human agent to disciple us¹³, we also recognise that “our” family time is a discipleship space, work likewise is a discipleship sphere, our recreation exists within the pattern of discipleship and so on for finance, health… The disciplining work of God is over the entirety of our existence.

Freed from seeing religion as tied to limited practices and places, we suddenly become aware of the illimitability of the divine love, mercy, grace, wisdom, power…in all things. We recognise Jesus’ presence in all aspects of culture and society and begin to actively share in his plan “for the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). We are drawn by the Spirit to take the sacred space which dwells intensely in us (Col 1:27) into every space/place where Christ is not yet confessed as Lord. Discerning what is the movement of the Spirit in any particular space-time we cooperate with him in bringing in the kingdom of God with power.

The church begins to enter more deeply into Jesus’ penetrating insight into the personal, social and political realms¹⁴. Through the prayers and presence of the people of God the light of Christ can penetrate into even the darkest realms (Matt 5:14), nothing remains hidden. Whatever the response, all the spheres of social and cultural life will know they have been encountered by the presence of the living God. This is not the case in our nations today, for Western nations do not look, act or speak like disciples of Jesus. The reason for this is not hard to find.

“Private Space” and Disciple Making

Westerners characteristically treasure their “private space”, a place deep inside where not even God has the right to intrude except with their permission and on their terms. The central tragedy of Western Christian spirituality is that it has embraced this myth of “private space” as valid. In practice we have denied that Jesus is Lord of every space. Until we repent and allow God the right that is his as Creator and Redeemer to indwell every fibre of our being consistent Christian discipleship will prove impossible¹⁵.

Conclusion

Human beings desperately need a vision of existence, but this cannot be the vision of totalitarian Islam or the all embracing individualism of Western thought. The authentic vision is the one opened up by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The proclamation of these gospel events reveal that space-time belongs to Christ as Lord of all (Acts 10:36). The one who commands us to disciple nations (Matt 28:19) is calling us to be open to his holy presence in every dimension of existence. In Christ, every space is holy.

The crisis of impotent Western Christianity moves us to ponder an old proverb, “If Christ is not Lord of all he is not Lord at all.” If we struggle to discern the Lord’s presence in all things it can only be because we are still exercising personal lordship in many areas of our own lives—the myth of “private space” holds on tenaciously. The choice before us is simple, ““If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”“ (John 8:31-32).

Footnotes

¹ In many countries if you a born into a Muslim family e.g. Malaysia, this is legally your status for life, conversion at this level is prohibited by statute.

² A change of society and culture, not a change in society and culture. In this case a change of “worldview” where the individual rather than God is placed at the centre of all things.

³ Held by roughly anyone under 40 years old.

⁴ A simple example appears in today’s local newspaper concerning a bill before state parliament allowing voluntary euthanasia. A respondent is quoted in favour because she “wants ownership of her death.” The West Australian, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, p.11

⁵ Or I AM WHAT I AM, or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.

⁶ E.g. “‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’” (Job 34:35; Prov 9:10).

⁷ The root words for holiness in the Bible, Hebrew qadosh and Greek hagiazo mean to be separate.

⁸ “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Prov 9:10).

⁹ They would have seen what the holy angels see, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”“ (Isa 6:3).

¹⁰ The Spirit who transformed Jesus’ resurrection body and who will transform the universe when he returns.

¹¹ Compare, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” (Col 2:9-10).

¹² I.e. exclusive of intimate third parties.

¹³ This is a truth of divine order independent of spousal maturity, or even if they are regenerate.

¹⁴ This relates to prophecy, but is much wider than a special gift reserved for a few e.g. see Rev 19:10.

¹⁵ Whoever has asked Jesus into their life has implicitly asked the Father to be as fully present to us as he is to his Son (1 John 4:17).

I have always been a strong minded and self-reliant person, but the last six months (Nov 2009 – April 2010) have been the most difficult – the worst ever – that I have experienced. It began earlier than this I guess near the end of 2008 when I spent the night at Fremantle Hospital emergency with severe pain. This became a regular occurrence over 2009 along with two major kidney operations and a few exploratory procedures.

Around the time of the latest and most painful/difficult operation I entered into what became a six-month spiritual crisis. Having emerged from it now I am in a position to reflect and hear what the Spirit is saying about this experience. I describe it as “the experience of the absence of the presence of God”. I refer to it as an experience because the reality is that God never did nor does He leave. I know that now, I look back and see His hand keeping me in His love despite ‘feeling’ totally alone.

Union of the Soul with God

John 14:23 (NIV)
²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Before talking of the experience of the absence of the presence of God I want to begin with the end. What is the purpose of God in taking a person through the dark night? Why does God remain silent “hid[ing] your face from me?”

The reply is: “to accomplish perfect union with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.” The purpose of God is that the elect would know Him. John 17:3 highlights this: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

To know God perfectly is to be in intimate fellowship with Him, which is only possible for those who have learned obedience. Andrew Murray[1] (1982:22) points out:

Man was created simply to live for God, to show forth His glory, by allowing God to show how completely He could reveal His likeness and blessedness in man… The selfishness of the human heart looks on salvation as simply the escape from hell, with as much holiness as is needed to make our happiness secure. Christ meant for us to be restored to the state from which we had fallen – the whole heart, the whole will, the whole life given up to the glory and service of God. To be wholly given up to God, to be perfect with the Lord our God, lies at the very root and is the very essence of true Christianity. The enthusiastic devotion of the whole heart to God is what is asked for.

The call to holiness is accomplished through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. And sanctification is the process of the chosen of God, through the Holy Spirit, being ‘conformed to the likeness of His Son” (Rom 8:29).

The Sovereign God requires only this from us; that we would be conformed to the image of His Son, which means to submit without question or reason to His perfect will.  When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He began with the words, “Our Father in heaven…” This prayer establishes our relationship with God. He is our Father and we “His son”. So, what is a son of God? Scripture records many heroes of faith (cf Heb 11) but Jesus alone is the example of Son. His witness as The Son of God (Heb 1:1-6) exemplifies not only our relationship with the Father but also how to be a son of God. Every action, every word, every thought from Jesus Christ Son of God was in direct obedience to the will of His Father.  The culmination of which is the cross – not my will but your will be done. Jesus lives in absolute obedience to His Father, His whole heart, will and life given up to the glory of God.

The purpose of God in taking me, or indeed anyone, through the experience of the absence of His presence is paradoxically, to produce a deeper union with Him – to produce Christ in me (Gal 4:19).

A friend, Rev Dr John Yates, replying to my first draft of this discourse put it this way: “These truths are in fact of massive pastoral importance, as the stripping away of the awareness of God’s presence, as he sees fit, is the usual means of sanctification. This would help folk come to terms with what it means, actually, how hard it is, for us sinful people to learn to submit to a Sovereign God, who cannot be negotiated with, manipulated, bribed etc.”

The Absence of the Presence of God

I can say that although I experienced the absence of the presence of God, God did not abandon me. This is because actual God-forsakenness – the wrath of God – is the handing of the abandoned one over to themself (cf Rom 1:20-32).  The only possible outcome in the state of actual abandonment is to deny God. The words of Job’s wife are in fact the only expression of a truly godforsaken life – curse God and die (Job 2:9). Yet for those who are chosen by God, for those whom He loves, it is impossible for them to ‘curse God and die’. The godforsaken will deny the existence of God or invent their own gods but they cannot embrace the living God. Those chosen by God cannot deny Him.

The amazing thing about the cross of Christ is that apparent contradictions exist yet they do not contradict but reveal the divine nature. God’s forgiveness and mercy do not contradict His justice and righteousness. It is because of His righteousness that mercy can be received. It is because God’s righteous anger, His divine wrath, was poured out at the cross that we can experience His divine mercy and grace. In fact, His wrath at the cross is also the very expression of His love toward us.

At the cross Jesus experienced the absence of God’s presence – “my God, why have you forsaken me” (the cry of abandonment) – yet the Father and the Son were always in total agreement and Jesus was in the absolute centre of God’s will. He became the object of God’s wrath while being absolutely ‘His love’.

God will never remove Himself from those He has chosen, but He does allow some to ‘experience the absence of His presence’ through His silence.

As each day goes by, the Spirit is revealing more of His work in me through the experience of the absence of the presence of God and especially helping my understanding as I have learned that this is not an isolated experience. From Job to David, the apostles to early church fathers, from reformers to modern-day men and women the experience of the absence of the presence of God has spiritual significance for those who are ‘blessed’ with it: “that we might realise afresh our dependence upon God as the source of all life” (Buxton 2001:286).

I found this insight the other day while re-reading “Dancing in the Dark – the privilege of participating in the ministry of Christ” by Graham Buxton (2001: Paternoster Press).

The term “dark night of the soul” coined by a 15th century priest, St John of the Cross, aptly describes the experience of the absence of God’s presence. Buxton speaks of the “dark night of the soul” as:

“…a process in which the soul is held by grace throughout a period of dryness and distaste in order to achieve the sweetness of divine union with God. The Spirit may lead some through this refining process whereby the soul is denied its customary gratification, not as an end in itself but as a means by which the all-sufficiency of God’s grace may be truly apprehended. The darkness of which we speak here has nothing to do with the darkness of the sinful world in which we live; rather, it refers to a wilderness experience in which the individual consents to the purifying ministry of the Spirit.” (2001:285)

This is how it has been described on Wikipedia:

Typically for a believer in the dark night of the soul, spiritual disciplines (such as prayer and consistent devotion to God) suddenly seem to lose all their experiential value; traditional prayer is extremely difficult and unrewarding for an extended period of time during this “dark night.” The individual may feel as though God has suddenly abandoned them or that his or her prayer life has collapsed. It is important to note however that the presence of doubt is not tantamount to abandonment — there is strongly Biblical tradition of authentic confusion before God (Psalms 13, 22, and 34 display King David, the ‘man after God’s own heart’ undergoing serious confusion and anguish at God, yet this is not condemned or mentioned as unfaithful, but rather the only measure of faith that David could have in the face of such withering abandonment).

Rather than resulting in devastation, however, the dark night is perceived by mystics and others to be a blessing in disguise, whereby the individual is stripped (in the dark night of the senses) of the spiritual ecstasy associated with acts of virtue. Although the individual may for a time seem to outwardly decline in their practices of virtue, they in reality become more virtuous, as they are being virtuous less for the spiritual rewards (ecstasies in the cases of the first night) obtained and more out of a true love for God. It is this purgatory, a purgation of the soul, that brings purity and union with God.

I can say unequivocally that I despaired for life itself – not that I thought I was dying or wanted to die but that life was meaningless, a cruel joke. I came to this place because I no longer had the presence of God as I knew it, something that had been with me all of my life, as far back as I could remember – even when I did not live to glorify Him, a state some would call ‘back-slidden’, I was even then conscious of His presence. It was not primarily an absence of ecstatic experience/s but that the ‘still small voice’ was silent – God was no longer real. Like many before me I lost the assurance of eternal life and feared that life had no meaning.

Without even being aware of it, Psalm 13 became my prayer. I cried out to God to return me to that place of knowing – ie to ‘seeing His face’ – or I would “sleep in death” (v5) meaning for me that there was no eternal life.

Psalm 13 (NIV)
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
for he has been good to me.

What is so amazing – in hindsight and having passed through the experience – is that even in the darkness of the soul I was not abandoned by God. I was still able to cry out to Him; to wrestle as Jacob did with God. And above all He kept me when I felt abandoned.

During the dark night I cried out to God though, like Jeremiah, it seemed my prayers were meaningless.

Lamentations 3:44 (NIV) You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

Like Job I pleaded my innocence with God, yet He remained silent. The ‘spiritual disciplines’ of prayer, fasting, study, and praise were all empty. All of my life, when my mind was faithless my heart remained faithful, and yet now it was my heart that seemed faithless while my head fought to be faithful.

My final prayer, my cry of desperation was: God, why have you taken your Spirit from me?

Was this the “breakthrough prayer”? What was the thing that I did to change my situation? Nothing! Looking back I probably prayed this way hundreds of times. I was powerless to trust in God and yet I was powerless to disown Him. I could not rest in the knowledge of His presence nor could I turn or hide from the knowledge of Him.

What did I discover? That the presence of God is far more precious than any earthly gain. Even in the darkest night of the soul, when God seems farthest away, this is when He is the most intimate because His purpose in this time is to bring that person into deeper union with Himself. And what we need to do in any experience of suffering is to submit to His will.

Ultimately, it is our sinfulness that hinders deeper union with God. It is His discipline – especially the discipline of suffering – that is designed to teach us obedience for the purpose of deeper union with Him. Deeper union – spirituality – is not something we can earn or purchase or cajole our way into, it is experienced through the death of self, a death only available through the Spirit’s work.

Hebrews 5:8 (NIV) ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered

Personal Reflection

For me, perhaps the greatest obstacle to a deeper union with God is my need to be strong/self-reliant. Apostle Paul learnt humility through weakness (2Cor 12:7-10) Jesus was crucified in weakness to glorify God. The dark night was for me a time of physical and spiritual powerlessness that left me with no ability to accomplish anything.

What can I say to anyone who finds themself in this dark night of the soul? Surrender! This is a time where the soul is being stripped of its flesh. Stripped of its idolatrous self-interest for the purpose of transformation. One does not come away from this with greater strength or ability or power but with weakness, inability and powerlessness. It is the culmination of being found wanting in every way.

As we mature in God we reach a place where we feel spiritual, knowledgeable, even capable to do all that God requires. The dark night of the soul strips away such self-congratulatory notions leaving one unimpressed with self and wanting only to know Him. Like Isaiah (6:1-8) the experience of God’s presence leaves us ‘ruined’, undone. God’s purification leaves us humbled and gratefully surrendered to His will. His call demands obedience to His Word as a servant.

Final Thought

I still feel in need of ‘intimacy with God’, times of spiritual refreshing that flow from “practicing His presence”, but there is not the doubt and apparent faithlessness that I experienced.

So there we are for now. Let me say that I am more appreciative (though the word is inadequate to express how I feel) of His presence now that I have a sense of the lack of His presence. The sense of joy and relief at being able to experience once again His presence is immense.

What will I now do? Nothing! I have no desire to go, to do, or to speak unless He compels me to go, to do or to speak. Then I will go with desire to obey His will. (That is my prayer at least)

Let’s not presume on His grace.

In His abiding grace,

Michael Fewson

It is this hope of eternal life that is revealed by the resurrection. It is the culmination of God’s plan for creation.  His plan is that at the return of Christ there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1-2) indeed all things will be made new. Corruption – the current state of all creation (Rom 8:20) – and mortality will be replaced by immortality; death swallowed up in victorious life. (1Cor 15:53-54)

For the redeemed, this future hope is that “Through the Spirit’s life-giving presence God will raise us to full participation as embodied creatures in the divine relationship shared between the Father and the Son”¹. God’s ultimate plan for creation has always been to bring into the divine relationship a people from every tribe and language (1Pt 2:9,10; Rev 7:9) upon the earth to share together in His divine nature (2Pt 1:4) in eternal community.

God’s purpose is divine and eternal life for humanity but man’s sin destroys this purpose bringing death into the world.

Death

As Scripture states: “… man is destined to die once…” (Hebrews 9:27) Death is a fact of existence that all conscious beings are aware of. It is the dread of the living, an inevitability to be delayed or ignored. Death is the enemy of the living though ironically it is only in the midst of life that we become aware of death. How revealing the words of the Psalmist describing life as “the valley of the shadow of death”.

Grenz points out that, “The death of a human being is more than the cessation of the function of a biological organism. It is the end of a personal life.²” The end of a personal life is not simply about the cessation of a person but also of their part in and effect upon the community in which they lived. John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”  Donne wrote of a bell in a monastery that would toll at the death of a person. Concerning death he wrote, “ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” No person’s existence is isolated and devoid of effect. When a person dies the whole community is diminished by that loss because it is a member of the community that passes and their influence ceases. So, the community ceases to exist in the same way.

“To be a person means to have a history or an identity narrative” which is never “merely the story of an isolated individual… because our narratives are always embedded in the story of a people”³

Death then is the cessation of a personal life and that person’s story within a community. It is not just the personal story that ceases but also the story of each person’s relationship with the one who dies and so ends many narratives changing the dynamic of the whole community.

The personal God of history is the God of community who gives living fellowship as His gift of grace – fellowship with God, with others and with creation. Death is the destructive force that is against the very nature of God.

God as community

The doctrine of the Trinity reveals a God of community. Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in the community of divine love. God is love (1Jn 4:8) and that love is expressed through and has its being in the existence of the triune God. “The unity of God is nothing less than the self-dedication of the Trinitarian persons to each other… The divine essence is the love that binds together the Trinity.”⁴

If the divine essence is love expressed in Trinitarian community then ‘man in the image of God’ must also be reflected in community – community with God and with other people. In the creation account we read, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27)  At the Genesis (2:7) God gave man life – “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” – and placed him in fellowship with his own kind – “the Lord God said “it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”” (2:18) Life and community are God’s eternal gift and purpose, His eternal plan.

John 17:1–3 (NIV)

¹After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

The language of community dominates Scripture both in regard to God’s self-revelation and His purpose in relation to humanity. The nature of God’s covenant in scripture expresses God’s plan in history: “I will be their God and they shall be my people”

Ezekiel 37:27 (NIV)

²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The final outcome of God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ is that people will participate in the community of God forever.

Revelation 21:3 (NIV)

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Since God’s plan is that we would exist in community, death is not only the enemy of life but also of the image of God (divine love in community) in us. Indeed the expression of the Divine love in the midst of eschatological community⁵ is evidence of that community’s place in God. (Jn 13:34,35)

Death is the result of man’s sin, the sum of our destruction of God’s intent. Death is not only the enemy of the living, it is the antithesis of God’s divine will and purpose. Jesus stated that His purpose was to redeem man from death and reinstate him to the place of divine will – ‘I have come that they may have life to the full”. (Jn 10:10)

The Easter event is the answer to the problem of death and the way for God’s will to be done.

The Easter Event

The premise of the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with the tragic demise of humanity: “…sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” (Rom5:12)

The answer that frees us is the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf:

Isaiah 53:8 (NIV)

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

Christ Jesus was put to death in the body as a propitiation for our sins and raised for our justification. As we receive Christ Jesus, we participate in His death so that we may also participate in His resurrected life.

The experience of the death of Jesus Christ was both the cessation of personal life and the expulsion of the Son from the Father’s presence (Is 53:8; Mat 27:46). The experience of death is the antithesis of the experience of Divine life. Death is the absence of life, love and relationship all of which are the gift of God and found in God.

The experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the restoration of personal life⁶ and reinstatement of the Divine relationship between Father and Son (Heb 1:3; Mk 16:19).

Philippians 2:5–11 (NIV)

⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The hope of the redeemed is that we will share in Jesus’ resurrection life. That we will pass from death into the Divine life of the Trinity experienced as eternal life in the presence of the love and fellowship of God and the saints.

Resurrection Body

1Peter 3:18 declares Jesus was “made alive by the Spirit” and Romans tells us that the Spirit will also make alive those in whom the Spirit lives.

Romans 8:11 (NIV)

¹¹ 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 through his Spirit, who lives in you.

This life is not simply about souls existing outside of the body as a ghost or phantom but the resurrection of our mortal bodies. Although we may not understand exactly what that will be like we know that it will be the same in kind as the resurrected body of Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:2 (NIV)

² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

When Jesus rose from the dead he was seen by many of his disciples. These appearances indicate that the resurrection body is both the same as and also different to Jesus’ earthly body. He was recognised by the scars he received at the crucifixion (Jn 20:27) and His disciples recognised His mannerisms. Yet at times He was unrecognisable and unrestricted by earthly limitations. He passed through walls (Jn 20:19,26), was not bound by dimensions of space (Lk 24:31) and could appear in a different form (Mk 16:12).

It would be acceptable to conclude that we also would have continuity in our resurrection body. That it would in fact be our earthly bodies that are transformed, mortality putting on immortality, the perishable becoming imperishable. It would be a body free from physical limitations, as we now know them.

The point here is not to get enamoured with nor sidetracked by supernatural ability but to recognise the freedom of Christ from the limitations imposed upon flesh through sin and death.

The resurrection body of the redeemed will be one that is the same as and also different from the present body. The greatest joy of the resurrection body will be in freedom from the corruption of lustful flesh (2Pt 1:4) and the participation of the divine community of the Trinity in love.

An Eschatological Prayer

When Jesus instructed His disciples in the righteous act of prayer (cf Mat 6:1; 9-13) could it have been more about praying in conformity to God’s eternal will and purpose – that those who were once not a people have become the people of God?

Our heavenly Father hallowed be your name

Our prayer begins in Divine relationship. We are children of the God of heaven and earth and our heavenly Father is holy. Let His name remain forever glorious, honourable and holy and we who are named by that name will live to glorify His name.

Your Kingdom Come, your will be done

This has been interpreted by some to be very immediate in nature; understanding it to be principally about the individual’s existence now. Let your Kingdom come to my life (whatever that may be or mean) let your will for my life be done. While it is right to seek for the Kingdom to be established now in our lives and for His will to be done, it is for us to enter into that Kingdom and that Will.

The actual coming of the Kingdom is the subjugation of all things in creation to the rule of God. This is the purpose of Jesus’ present rule, to put all things under His feet – with death being the final enemy to be conquered. (1Cor15:26-28) ‘Your kingdom come’ is a prayer for God’s ultimate rule to become reality in time, a prayer akin to Rev 22:20 Amen, Come Lord Jesus.

God’s will is that “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Rev 21:3) To seek God’s will is to participate fully in the Divine community of faith, in which our eschatological hope is experienced. God’s will is not whether I should go here or there, or take this job or live in this house. It is to live in the community of faith in Jesus’ love. It is in the love-based fellowship of the community that Christ dwells by His Spirit. (1Cor 3:16)

Through Jesus Christ the resurrection brings us into eternal life where we will participate in the Divine community of the Godhead. Our eternal fellowship will be with God, and with one another, in a creation renewed.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The final aspects of this prayer focus on the present reality of the resurrected life. The fact that we have needs is in God’s mind, He knows our need and gives us what is required.  (cf Mat 6:25-26) So we pray give us this day – while we await the culmination of history at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ – that which we have need of.

Conclusion

The resurrection does not draw our attention to this present world but to the world that is to come. It speaks to us of God’s purpose, of our place in His Kingdom and in His will.

The future hope enables us to engage this world with the appropriate degree of interest. It enables us to regard this life, not as citizens embracing some ‘land of hope’, but as pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land longing for that great city of God to appear – resurrection with Christ is our eschatological hope.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

1. (Grenz S. 1994 theology for the community of God Broadman & Holman Publishers: Grand Rapids 587)
2. (Grenz. 575)
3. (Grenz 581)
4. (Grenz 69)
5. The eschatological community is the contemporary community of faith living in the expectancy of the return of Christ whose indwelling presence in the community is the ‘hope of glory’ (Col 1:27; 1Tim 1:1). This community endeavours to live by faith the principles of the Divine community now believing that eternal life and the fellowship of God in the community is able to be experienced in part now and will reach its fullest expression in the age to come.
6. When Jesus, the eternal Word, became flesh (Jn 1:1,14) he gave up Divine life and embraced death. His resurrection life is not a reinstatement to the previous form of life but a different kind of life. It is the eternal life of the Trinity in love and fellowship.

As the Kingdom of God advances the challenge for those who are ‘sons of God’ is to become God-followers in an age of men-pleasing religion. In fact the creation is waiting in eager anticipation for the emergence of genuine sons of God. We are living in an age when God is preparing to reveal to principalities and powers, to all creation, a people who live on this earth as His Sons. This calls for a radical change of priorities for all who are called by His name, which will be expressed in a radical lifestyle; no longer unwittingly following teachings that produce ambulatory centres of selfishness but a people who choose to be living sacrifices. Who reject the common self-promoting self-help teachings and pursue the Word of the cross.

If we desire to have God’s presence in our churches then it is indeed time for judgement to begin in the house of God.

Lesley and I went to South Dakota with Dale and Jessie for a holiday. The joke in the family was that I did not understand the idea of holiday. To do nothing but rest was a strange concept. To travel overseas without having a preaching itinerary was something I had never done. So, I determined that I would do just that, I would rest and avoid any preaching engagements; avoid analysing the political or economic environment; and try not to listen to the Spirit’s concern for the church for a few days.

We agreed to meet with Pastor Gary and Evelyn, from Dove Christian Centre, for breakfast on the Friday before leaving South Dakota and while we were talking Gary asked what the Spirit was saying to me. As we talked I became aware of the Spirit’s prompting and Gary asked if I sensed I should preach on the Sunday? Even though I had predetermined a negative response the Holy Spirit had other ideas and so I agreed to share what was to be a prophetic message, one that the church meeting at Dove were ready to hear, but also a word which is for the western church.

1 Peter 4:17-19 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And,

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. NIV

Knowing that the Spirit was going to speak and the challenge was for God-followers to emerge from the churches of society, I was praying for a way to communicate the word when a Spirit-inspired illustration came to me.

The Titanic was built by men who declared that what they had made was the greatest ship ever. One person reportedly declared that not even God could sink it. The general story surrounding Titanic, whether true or myth, encompass an air of confidence that was to prove unjustifiable. The ship was unsinkable; there were not enough life boats to transport everyone aboard; the evacuation process was chaotic; and there seemed to be no sense of imminent danger resulting in a casualness leading to the death of many.

In some accounts of the disaster the band played on deck while the boat sank. Even while the ship was sinking many aboard felt that all was well and that this ‘unsinkable’ ship would survive.

In similar fashion the western church has been built by some of the finest men who are impressed which what they have achieved. Like the Laodicean Church they are saying; ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But today the Holy Spirit is saying to the church ‘you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.’ (Rev 3:17)

The worship teams are playing; the people are enjoying the experience of worship rather than the object of worship; preachers are proclaiming the blessings of the Kingdom without teaching that they are only obtained through “sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” (Phil 3:10)

In short, this Titanic western church is sinking while the band plays and the officers calm the doomed with soothing words. They are saying ‘peace, peace’ when there is no peace; they are declaring mercy to those who are suffering under God’s wrath.

Like a rescue vessel coming alongside the sinking Titanic, the Holy Spirit is saying to those who would be God-followers, come out from among them and be separate.

Because God has said…

Reading through Hebrews chapter 13 the writer compels us to ‘keep on loving each other’; ‘marriage should be honoured and the marriage bed kept pure’ and other such exhortations. In the middle of this is the reason we should and indeed can live righteously; “because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

The ability to live a life that contradicts society is that uncomplicated… because God has said. When we are able to grasp these words then we will come to know and live in the genuine power of the Holy God who transforms people’s lives. “Because God has said”, is more than a simplistic statement such as ‘what would Jesus do’ as though He were an absent ethicist, or ‘Jesus said it I believe it and that settles it’ as if we had chosen one opinion over another; rather it is precisely what God has said; ‘never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.’

What God has said is that He will always surround His own; He will always indwell His own, constantly, with His own presence. Because God has promised His abiding presence we can live as His child pursuing His will and purpose rather than our own.

As the Kingdom of God advances the challenge for those who are ‘sons of God’¹ is to become God-followers in an age of men-pleasing religion. In fact the creation is waiting in eager anticipation for the emergence of genuine sons of God.² We are living in an age when God is preparing to reveal to principalities and powers, to all creation, a people who live on this earth as His Sons. This calls for a radical change of priorities for all who are called by His name, which will be expressed in a radical lifestyle; no longer unwittingly following teachings that produce ambulatory centres of selfishness but a people who choose to be living sacrifices. Who reject the common self-promoting self-help teachings and pursue the Word of the cross.

Because God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you…

God’s Word is God’s presence. This is what is so profound about the gospel, ‘The Word [of God] became flesh and made His dwelling among us’.³ God’s Word is not simply writings in a book but literally the person of Jesus Christ who abides in His people by the Holy Spirit.

To call Scripture ‘God’s Word’ is to reduce God’s presence to a rule book. People may declare Scripture to be inerrant however this often means our inerrant interpretation. Scripture has been used throughout history to justify all sorts of actions. It is used by men of honour and dishonour to promote all sorts of doctrines – even ‘doctrines of devils’.⁴

The purpose here is not to belittle Scripture but to challenge the use of Scripture in the absence of the never will I leave you presence of God. Jesus, when tempted by Satan, used Scripture to rebut the devil. It should then be noted that the devil also used Scripture to tempt Jesus.⁵ In this encounter Jesus spoke Scripture to define or explain His actions in God’s presence;⁶ Satan used Scripture as a means to justify Jesus should he decide to obey Satan.

The Bible is not a book to be used by people to justify the corruption of their evil desires⁷ – in the same manner that legal systems have become about words rather than justice – it is the inspired message of God speaking about Jesus Christ.⁸

In defence of sound doctrine

Titus 1:9 [An elder] must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. NIV

It is time for those who are in Christ to speak up in defence of sound doctrine. Titus was told that elders have a responsibility to hold firmly to the trustworthy message of the cross⁹ and to refute those who oppose this message by perverting the truth.

Titus 1:11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach NIV

An example, but by no means the only one available, is the stand of churches on divorce and remarriage. The fact is I could pick almost any sinful lifestyle and the same indefensible doctrines would be evident.

Under Australian law the Marriage Act 1961 defines marriage as ‘…the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.’ In the US and in Australia there has been a push to change the status of marriage so that it can include same-sex unions. Churches have strongly objected to such changes because ‘God has said’. Marriage is the union of a man and a woman, not of a man to man or woman to woman.

But what of the statement; “to the exclusion of all others, for life”? Scripture declares in Heb 13:4 “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (NIV) And Jesus said on the subject of divorce; “So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matt 19:6 NIV)

In our churches this is not something that is given the same measure of importance as ‘the union of a man and a woman’. Today divorce due to “irreconcilable differences” and subsequent remarriage is not the experience of a select few but the norm. Divorce is not a shameful act but an acceptable procedure for people who call themselves Christian. Celebrity ministers’ today divorce spouses who are partners in ministry, they remarry within weeks or months and their ‘ministries’ do not even skip a beat. If a voice is raised against their ungodliness it is the prophet who is crucified rather than the purveyors of teachings that oppose the cross.

The ‘doctrine’ excusing divorce and remarriage (or other forms of sexual sin in the church) is called ‘grace’. We may demand that same-sex unions are wrong, bad and/or evil yet we do not discourage divorce and remarriage nor encourage a divorced man or woman to ‘remain single”¹⁰ as we are called to because ‘God has said’.

I am not writing this to condemn people who have been divorced but to highlight that it is no longer an exception, it has become the norm. Moreover, my point is not one of divorce rather it is an example of how we have ceased to refute those who oppose sound doctrine. Why are we at this point? It is because we have a book rather than the presence of the Holy God.

The teaching of grace, which excludes the presence of the Holy God but purports to be based on the Bible, calls Christians to stop being judgemental, because God is a loving God who calls us to just love on everyone, even/especially those who profess to be Christians but live according to worldly lusts. This is nothing short of a doctrine of devils that is ruining whole households.

What then is the genuine message of grace that we have received in Christ? Scripture makes that very clear to us:

Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, NIV

Now that is real Bible… not some fanciful, man-pleasing message that denies the power of God.

The grace of God does not teach us to accept a church that is filled with all kinds of vice and corruption, a bride that is impure, unholy and unrighteous; the gospel of grace teaches us to say NO to ungodliness and worldly passion. The man who preaches the message of the cross exhorts his hearers:

1 Cor 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. NIV

When Paul was confronted by lustful living in one of his churches he didn’t love on them according to today’s perverted message of grace, he rebuked them harshly – indeed he taught his elders that their job was to correct, rebuke and exhort – and when there was no repentance he declared;

1 Cor 5:12-13 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” NIV

The Kingdom of God – which is the realm of the rule of Jesus Christ¹¹ – is the habitation of the redeemed of the Lord, those saved by grace, a grace that empowers us to say no to lust. Those churches that are in the Kingdom of God (as opposed to those that are the churches of society) promote the righteousness that is by faith in God’s enabling grace to make us holy, spotless and blameless in His sight. We do not judge those outside the church for that is God’s business – as Paul says – churches that are of the cross will however judge those inside. They will judge sin and expel the wicked; especially those who purport to be teachers but are peddlers of doctrines that appeal to the flesh of men.

As such Scripture declares what such churches should be like:

Eph 5:3-4 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. NIV

What does all this mean?

God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you

The point is not about whether it is ok to divorce and then remarry, or about accepting this or that person, it is that God is present amongst His people. The glory of God in the church of Jesus Christ is the evidence of His presence. His glory is not revealed in large numbers, gold dust, emotional encounters, teeth being filled, nor even miracles, it is evident when His nature is revealed through the church and that nature is Holy.

The church is to the praise of His glory when it is holy. The church is the church of Jesus Christ when she is holy. The gospel of the church is only the gospel of Jesus Christ when it is the message of the cross – a word that reveals the holiness of God. Sons of God are only really sons when they display His Holy nature. And all of this is only possible when God is indwelling His people.

The call of the Holy Spirit today is the challenge of Scripture:

2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? NIV

The test of being in the faith is proved in the character of God. 2 Peter 1:3 says that we participate in His divine nature having escaped the corruption caused by evil desires. Those who live according to the sinful nature do not have the Spirit of God¹² and therefore fail the test.

Jesus Christ lives in those who are the elect of God and the evidence of Jesus living in us is the desire for holiness. As the Spirit declares in 1 John 3:6 “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning”.

If we desire to have God’s presence in our churches then it is indeed time for judgement to begin in the house of God.

1 Peter 4:17-19 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And,

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. NIV

If Scripture, as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit, is what God has said, then the absence of the presence of God is the present reality of the churches today. If God’s presence produces holiness and our churches are as unholy as the societies in which we live, then we have failed the test. Ichabod, the glory of the Lord has departed.

It is time for judgement to begin in the family of God. It is time for the sons of God to reject the super-apostles and follow those apostles who are given by Jesus as gifts of Himself to the church. It is time to judge ourselves by crying out, Holy Spirit, search my heart and see if there is any iniquity in me. It is time for the sons of God to be revealed.

1. Rom 8:14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. NIV; Gal 3:26-27 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. NIV
2. Rom 8:19
3. John 1:1,14
4. 1 Tim 4:1
5. Matt 4:1-11
6. John 8:29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” NIV
7. 2Pt 1L4
8. John 5:39
9. what else would this ‘trustworthy message’ be? For it was the message that Paul preached – the only gospel preached by Paul and the only message that can be attributed to his epistles. If Paul spoke of faith it was the faith of the cross, if he spoke of giving it was the giving of the cross etc. 1Cor 1:22-25; 2:2; 15:1-4; Gal 3:1; 6:14; Phil 3:8-10
10. 1 Cor 7:10-11 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. NIV
11. 1 Cor 15:25; Phil 2:9-11; Rom 10:9
12. Rom 8:1-13; 1Jn 2:15

We don’t have a shortage of leaders, but a shortage of followers of the one Leader who can transform lives and nations. We don’t need to enlarge our vision, but make it smaller and more focused. We don’t need more numbers, but more quality and consistency among the numbers we already have. We need more people who will do things God’s way and fewer people doing things man’s way. (James Montgomery Boise)

Where have all the leaders gone?

I find that when a particular issue is raised with me, if it is in the current purpose of God, the Spirit speaks to me with a clear response and then through prayer and meditation, the Spirit reveals the mind of God.

This happened recently when an article was brought to my attention. It was a lament over the lack of holy living in the lives of ‘high-profile’ leaders.¹ The article was titled “where have all the leaders gone?” and began by announcing; “The church today faces a serious leadership crisis”. Immediately I sensed the Spirit say; “there is no lack of godly leaders, rather a lack of God-followers‘. As I prayed about this the Scripture most prominent in my mind was Paul’s warning to Timothy about the last days:

2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. NIV

Two problems appear today concerning leadership: firstly there seems to be a general lack of discernment about who God’s leaders are today with most preachers either ignorant of or afraid to rebut populist views that follow celebrity preachers;² and secondly, as a flow-on from this lack of discernment, is the apparent chaos and sense of disappointment expressed when it becomes evident many of these ‘leaders’ are not of the ilk of Christ; men who can never say, imitate me as I imitate Christ.³ 

Elijah was surrounded by the same climate of ungodly prophets and priests, men who encouraged God’s people to follow other gods. He lamented that he alone was zealous for God, yet God told him that there were 7000 men who also had not fallen into the idolatry of the age.⁴ There were godly leaders in Israel but the people chose to follow false prophets. It seems to be repeated throughout history that people who attend church, but do not passionately desire the knowledge of God, will invariably follow charismatic leaders whose teaching appeals to their humanity.⁵ Despite times when the church is predominantly occupied by ‘church-goers’ rather than God followers, in every generation Jesus continually gives of Himself through godly leaders to those who passionately desire Him; whether many or few.

People having a form of godliness, yet trapped in and controlled by the sin nature, will follow false teachers because their messages cater to the natural desires. Then, when one of these celebrity teachers is exposed as an habitual sinner many will use this as an excuse to reject God and blame the church for their hurt. This is a natural process that occurs every day of the week, not only in religious circles but also in politics, sport, the arts and civil powers etc.⁶  Those who are growing in the knowledge of God however, should never be guilty of celebrity following or suffer disappointment when these celebrities are exposed as “clouds without rain, promising much but producing nothing”.⁷  Like Paul, God followers should be intensely aware of false teachers and refuse to put up with them. They also know that nothing can separate them from the love of God and refuse to let scandal, false teachers, or devil agents become an excuse for rejecting the holy love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

It is not ‘leaders’ who will bring change to the problem of the lack of godly leaders, it is God followers who will bring the change. Genuine followers of Jesus Christ must stop getting caught up in the hype of celebrity preachers:

• reject as leaders those whose lives contradict the example of Jesus Christ through sinful acts:

3 John 11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. KJV

• reject as leaders those who proclaim another gospel:

Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! NIV

• seek to follow⁸ God appointed leaders who preach Christ crucified and live lives pleasing to God:

1 Cor 2:2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. NIV

1 Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. NIV

• pray for a visitation of Jesus Christ rather than celebrity preachers.

Discerning godly leaders

2 Cor 11:2-6 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. NIV

2 Cor 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. NIV

If followers of the true Leader, Jesus Christ, are going to reject the hype of celebrity teachers, then a bold discernment between Jesus’ ascension gifts⁹ and pretenders is required. Are we genuinely tired of the hype? Of the message of relevance that is no gospel at all? Then it is time for true God followers to no longer ‘put up with it’ so easily.

To discern between those given as gifts by Jesus and the pretenders requires that we discard the world’s assessment criteria and measure or assess those who call themselves ‘apostles and prophets’ through a mind renewed by the gospel.¹⁰ Is a man who is surrounded by thousands of people a leader appointed by God or are they a teacher gathered by men with itching ears? Unfortunately we still use the assessment tools of the god of this age rather than that given us by the Spirit through Scripture.

In the marketplace, success is measurable and the measurement is numbers; how many, how much, how often etc. Such measurements are based on the sin nature and are expressions of root sin: pleasure, possessions and/or position.¹¹ Too often the same tools are used in the church to recognise leaders: How many people come to hear you preach, how many books have you written/sold, how much money can you raise, how often do you travel or are you invited to preach? Success is found in these numbers and ‘high-profile leaders’ are at the pinnacle of success.

However, if Scripture is to be believed, such outcomes are not ours to measure. Apostle Paul declares:

1 Cor 3:5-7 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. NIV

Sound Doctrine

Perhaps the first criterion in discerning ascension gifts of Jesus from celebrity preachers is to have a personal passion for the knowledge of God. A desire for sound doctrine will ensure a Spirit-led journey into truth.¹² Being Spirit-led is not a reason to reject ascension gifts of Jesus but rather a means to identify Jesus as he gifts himself through them. The Spirit will resonate within us whenever we hear the sound doctrine of the cross as it is proclaimed and there will be no fear of following Christ in those leaders.

The clear warning of 2 Timothy 4:3 is that people will not put up with sound doctrine but pursue teaching that suits their own desires. So, they will gather around them teachers who cater to these desires. Be warned, the crowds are not right. If the last days are a time of great deception, then we cannot just accept anything that comes along: no matter how popular it becomes in churches.

Jesus personally warns His followers:

Mark 13:22-23 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. NIV\

 These warnings are not talking about the ungodly, for they have never received any divine doctrine nor do they gather teachers around themselves, this word is for those religious people who call themselves followers of Jesus. Perhaps we need to consider the point of false Christs and prophets preaching outside the church! What is the point of deceiving the deceived? Why try to ‘lead astray’ those who are already outside of God? These warnings speak about what will happen ‘in the church’ when the church is lukewarm and indifferent to sound doctrine: A time when the church is too much like the world. The most astute description of this can be found in 2 Timothy:

2 Tim 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. NIV

Lovers of themselves, lovers of money and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God stand out. They are the foundational expressions of idolatry as defined by Apostle John¹³ the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life. When men who are called ‘leaders’ insist that we need to preach a message that ‘appeals’ to people, are they not espousing ‘doctrines of demons’? When we are told to preach a message that people want to hear, are we not catering to their own desires? When we are compelled to ‘affirm people’ who ‘need to feel good about themselves’, rather than calling people to repentance, aren’t we affirming their idolatry?

The Objectionable Message of the Cross

Indeed the message of the cross, rather than affirming, appealing or desirous is; foolish, offensive, objectionable and unwanted. John Stott, in “The cross of Christ” (1986:12), says, “So far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness. We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.”

Moltmann expresses it beautifully in the opening chapter of his book “The crucified God”:

“The cross is not and cannot be loved. Yet only the crucified Christ can bring the freedom which changes the world because it is no longer afraid of death. In his time the crucified Christ was regarded as a scandal and foolishness. Today, too, it is considered old-fashioned to put him in the centre of Christian faith and of theology. Yet only when men are reminded of him, however untimely this may be, can they be set free from the power of the facts of the present time, and from the laws and compulsions of history, and be offered a future which will never grow dark again. Today the church and theology must turn to the crucified Christ in order to show the world the freedom he offers. This is essential if they want to become what they assert they are: the church of Christ, and Christian theology.” (1974:1)

I can already hear the objections that I have heard so many times before, ‘we must move on from the cross and to the resurrection’, or as one ‘celebrity teacher’ declared, ‘I am called to preach the blessings of God’. Another says, “The people are hurting and need to be comforted”, or, “people want to know how to live not how to die” “they want steak on the plate not apple pie in the sky”. Yet such objections come from an ignorance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such language is actually foreign to Scripture and offensive to the gospel. Quite prepared to offend such teachers I believe them to be the doctrines of demons that Scripture warns about (1Tim 4:1).

The meaning of the cross as good news is that we cannot live until we have died. Paul declared, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20) The gospel message handed down through the ages is the word of the cross:¹⁴

1 Cor 1: 18, 22-25 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. NIV

P.T. Forsyth wrote in “The cruciality of the cross”:

Christ is to us just what his cross is. All that Christ was in heaven or on earth was put into what he did there… Christ, I repeat, is to us just what his cross is. You do not understand Christ until you understand his cross… It is only by understanding it that we escape from religion with no mind, and from religion which is all mind, from pietism with its lack of critical judgment, and from rationalism with its lack of everything else. (1909:44-45)

Emil Brunner, the Swiss theologian, according to Stott describes the reformation this way: “The whole struggle of the reformation… was simply the struggle for the right interpretation of the Cross. He who understands the Cross aright – this is the opinion of the Reformers – understands the Bible, he understands Jesus Christ.” (p. 44)

In the company of such inspired men I feel compelled to stand with them over against much of our modern philosophies and restate the opinion that only the cross reveals the love of God, his promises, his benefits and his blessings. The only true affirmation of a man can be found in complete surrender to the cross and it is the sole source of comfort and peace. To offer blessing, affirmation or comfort from any message other than Christ crucified is to offer a humanistic gospel that will inevitably produce death; a Christianised motivational self-help philosophy.

People, we are told by celebrity teachers, want to know how to be better husbands or wives, better parents, better people and so our preaching should give them ‘keys’ to becoming such people. These pursuits do not separate Christians from the world nor from other religions, but places them in solidarity with the world.¹⁵ As commendable as these desires may sound the source is idolatrous because the aim is not to please God but to please ourselves, our children or our spouse and to be seen as righteous in the eyes of others.

The Apostle Paul however defines the true mark of a Christian, not as one who wants to be a better person in their own eyes or to be seen by others as good, but as one who wants the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ.

Phil 3:8,10-11 I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The wisdom of God for the redemption of man is the cross of Jesus Christ. To become a different person may be the dream of many but to become a ‘new creation’ is the reality of the message of the cross to those who believe. Our encounter with Jesus Christ reveals the cross as death and life, shame and glory, poverty and prosperity, captivity and freedom. To speak of the cross is to speak of the resurrection of the crucified God and the crucifixion of the risen Lord. The cross of Christ is more admirable than any of our good intentions and any word that is not soundly rooted in the cross, no matter how good intentioned, is pitifully inadequate.

Concluding this Matter

So then, what of my earlier statement that we do not lack godly leaders but God-followers? It is time for those who firmly believe they are ‘God-followers’ to stop following the crowds. Popular teachers are not necessarily godly leaders. Large churches – and even small – may simply be gatherings of men who will not put up with sound doctrine who have gathered around teachers who preach what they desire. The proof is in the message preached. But how will you know if you have never ‘struggled for the right interpretation of the cross’? I remember speaking about a celebrity teacher who declared his ministry was only to ‘preach the blessings of God’. He preaches popular messages that appeal to the idolatrous nature of fallen humanity. One minister said that he did preach Christ on the basis that he mentions the name of Jesus (occasionally). On that basis however, every cult that uses the name Jesus preaches Christ and so do many other world religions, so we cannot call them false teachers or non-Christian teachers either. It is the preaching of the cross, not the mentioning of the name of Jesus, that is the gospel. It is the context in which Jesus is named that qualifies the rightness of the message as being the word of the cross.

There are many godly leaders who have not been gathered in by large congregations of men seeking teachers who suit their own desires. Like the prophets of old they are voices in the wilderness declaring the way of the Lord. Like Paul and the other Apostles who “did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you” (Gal 2:5).

If the church is really the church of Jesus Christ, then he will unite his own together if they truly seek Him out and stop chasing after self-affirming crowds. The church of Jesus Christ is not a church of society but a community of heaven living in contrast to the society around it.

As George Eldon Ladd says in his book the presence of the future, “It is therefore the church’s duty to display in an evil age of self-seeking, pride, and animosity the life and fellowship of the Kingdom of God and of the age to come” (1974:269).

I want to complete this section with a quote by James Montgomery Boice:¹⁶

We don’t have a shortage of leaders, but a shortage of followers of the one Leader who can transform lives and nations. We don’t need to enlarge our vision, but make it smaller and more focused. We don’t need more numbers, but more quality and consistency among the numbers we already have. We need more people who will do things God’s way and fewer people doing things man’s way.

1. What I refer to as ‘celebrity’ teachers
2. if genuine ascension gifts can’t or won’t speak out how can those who are being equipped learn to know sound doctrine?
3. 1 Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Cor 4:16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.; cf Phil 3:16; Heb 6:12; 13:7
4. 1Kg 19:14-18
5. At various times in history the visible church is more like a society of men than a community of heaven. It is at these times that revival is desperately needed; a visitation of God rather than a change of leaders is what we should cry out for.
6. Note the outcry when a sports star is accused of anti-social behaviour, or drug and/or alcohol abuse, or other misconduct. Loyal supporters either want them banned or forgiven depending on how successful their team will be without the star. Blogs about celebrity teachers who have ‘fallen’ or non-religious celebrities who have also failed society through lack of character – usually for the same acts – have the same arguments for and against. They should be forgiven or dumped/sacked. The arguments are the same whether religious, political, profession or popular.
7. Jude12,13
8. Heb 13:17
9. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
10. Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV
11. 1 John 2:16 For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. NIV
12. 1Jn 2:18-27
13. 1Jn 2:16
14. 1 Cor 2:1-2 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.   For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ; Gal 3:1-2 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? ; Gal 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ; Phil 3:10-11 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
15. I think we have forgotten, or do not really believe, that the world is under the control of and serves the evil one and social oughts have their origin in the god of this age.
16. Whatever happened to the Gospel of Grace? Rediscovering the Doctrines That Shook The World, p28