“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21)
Journal,
Sometimes religion can become a road block to a meaningful spiritual life. One struggle many believers have is in trying to find the perfect religion. They go from one group to another trying to find God’s blue print for life. The problem is that no institution on earth has the blueprint of God. To begin with there is no such thing as the perfect religion. And secondly, Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world. [It can’t be found in an earthly form.]
Roman Catholics don’t have God’s blueprint. Southern Baptists, nor Pentecostals, nor Messianism have heaven’s blue print. The blueprint came to us from God and it can only be found one place. It can only be found in the heart.
Jesus is heaven’s blueprint. He said,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)
Living life without the blueprint
Most believers today are spiritually mature enough to realize that God has people throughout the varied Christian groupings. Yet you always have those who live spiritually shallow lives because of their misconceptions about how to walk with God. Their walk is ‘religion-centered.’ Without even realizing it, they have placed their religion between themselves and God.
These are the, ‘Lo, Christ is here’ people. Jesus spoke of them:
“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him … ” (Mar 13:21-22)
So, the question remains. If the blueprint of heaven can’t be found with any religious group, where then do we find Christ? The apostle said it very well:
“… the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
“We proclaim Him [Christ], admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” (Col 1:26-28)
The Bible says that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And God wants each believer to find their own…
Completeness in Christ
It really isn’t a matter so much of where you attend church. God does place His people into flocks. Simply be where the Lord wants you to be.
What is important is that believers understand the essence of God’s heavenly covenant. The new covenant is an eternal covenant that gives us eternal life. The people of the new covenant are a heavenly people. They are a people born of heaven. They are given a heavenly directed heart. (That is what being born again actually means.)
Jesus is the heart and soul of the new eternal covenant. His life is our life. It is His life that we live. This means that new covenant life is an under tutorship of the Spirit of Christ.
Listen very carefully once again:
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21)
Paul explains this very well when he says,
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is not longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal2:20)
Learn to believe God’s way
It takes time to learn how to live in kingdom life. A difficulty we often have is in reading our own belief system into the Scriptures. We read it that way because we want to believe it that way. This is called eisegesis, or ‘reading into.’ This form of reading can mar a person’s spiritual life. Rather than let God speak to our hearts, we rush through the Scriptures to bolster what we want to believe.
The proper way to read the Scripture is called exegesis, or ‘reading out of.’
To properly understand what a Biblical writer means when he uses a certain term, we have to understand how that term was used during his time. When John says,
“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace,” we need to know how the term ‘fullness’ was used at that time.
The word ‘pleroma‘ means ‘that which fills,’ and it comes from ‘pleroo‘, or, ‘ to fill with a content.’
Pleroma as used by the gospel writers had a two-fold meaning. It meant that believers have been brought into a fullness in Christ’s sphere of life. In this case there is nothing we need to do to be any closer to God, than being ‘in Christ.’ This fullness of our sphere of relationship takes place in the new birth. It is not some later added spiritual experience.
This Greek word also means that believers are filled absolutely by the Person of Christ as the giver of life. No believer has more of Christ than another believer. It is here that we get the idea of Christ living out His life in us. The apostle said that the one who belongs to Christ is one spirit with HIm.
Let’s take another example. Paul said,
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled (pleroo) the law.” (Rom13:8)
Paul is saying that the love of God that is poured out in our hearts in the new birth, is the governing principle of the new covenant, and that by walking in the Spirit of love we automatically fulfill, or reach the full goal of the intent of the Law of Moses. Paul’s point is that Christ has removed any need for performing rituals. Anyone can do a ritual, but only those truly born of God’s Spirit have the capacity to fulfill the love walk.
Made complete in Christ
There is a last sense in the word ‘pleroma‘ which has to do with completeness, or to finish up a thing. This is a very important concept. Listen carefully:
“For of His fullness (pleorma; or, ‘completeness’) we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (Joh 1:16-17)
Completeness means there is nothing you can add to make it any more complete.
At the very moment of the new birth, a believer is made complete in Christ. No one can take away from that. Nor is there anything to add to that. This is the sum and substance of the new covenant.
It is because of this sum and substance, that John said we are given “grace upon grace.” Grace upon grace means that at no time in a believer’s life will he or she be able to get beyond God’s redeeming grace.
Hear again the apostle;
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He *lavished* on us, in all wisdom and insight.” (Eph1:7,8)
The key word is ‘lavished.’ Perisseuo means a super abundance, or be over and above anything needed or required. God can lavish grace on all His children because we have received the fullness of Christ.
Putting on Christ
This issue of Christ being our completeness was a struggle for the early believers, just as it is for many today. They had the Judaizers who said you must fulfill the law of Moses to be right with God. Then you had the Gnostics and philosophers who took to themselves as being the ‘special’ ones on the earth, that one must come to them to have fulfillment.
These kinds of religious systems have always been around.
John disarmed both groups when he said,
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
He then says,
“By this, love is perfected (brought to completion) with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He [Christ] is, so also are we in this world.” (1John4:15,17)
John is saying Christ perfectly represents every believer in heaven. And this is where our salvation lies. You can also refer to this as the life exchange of the cross. Christ took our life to Himself in His death on the cross, and, He, in turn, gave us His perfect life to be our standing with heaven.
Heaven’s GPS
And now for the path finder. Folk often wonder what specific role the Holy Spirit has in a believer’s life. There are many specifics to be had but the one most important to our walk of faith is how the Holy Spirit acts as our guide in our journey from earth to heaven.
Listen to these Scriptures:
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (Joh 16:12-14)
The Greek term for ‘truth’ speaks of an unveiled reality or the very essence of a matter. Here the Lord is calling attention to matters of the kingdom.
Notice Jesus said, “Whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
How real is this? Most believers are familiar with what Jesus said about His sheep –
“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (Joh 10:26-29)
The point is that God’s people have the capacity to hear the Spirit of Christ speaking in their own hearts, also in providence, also in ways too many to mention. But once again, here is where spiritual maturity must come into place.
The prophet described how very real God’s speaking is:
“Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” (Isa 30:20-21)
The Way of God
When Jesus said that He was ‘the Way’, this term resounded with prophetic overtones. In time the disciples saw the connection, the very connection that we need to see. This is why the earliest believers often referred to their walk as ‘the Way.’
Listen to the Psalmist as he describes both God speaking and how the Messiah sets forth the way of God:
“I will hear what God the LORD will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; but let them not turn back to folly.
“Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.
“Indeed, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its produce. Righteousness will go before Him and will make His footsteps into a way.” (Psa 85:8-13)
And so, we are back to where we started. Ok – One more time – Listen with your heart to our beginning Scripture portion —
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21)
Does this Scripture speak to you? Take your time. Let it sink in.
There is no truth more important to a believer than to understand the reality or truth of kingdom life. That truth is simply, “Christ in you the hope of glory.”
Here is your meditation song. ‘Thank You, Lord’ by Hillsong. (Why not relax and let Jesus minister to your heart.)
In Christ always,
Buddy
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