Wednesday 12/09/15
Series: Living in the Kingdom VIII
Message – Union I
Living in the Kingdom – Pleasing God by embracing our union with Him
We are starting a new segment in our teachings on Living in the Kingdom. Many today preach a gospel that is entirely centered on sin and heaven, where as the Gospel message of the early church was centered on the Kingdom of God and Union with Him.
A union centered gospel is radically different than a sin focused gospel, and opens the door for a much deeper intimacy with God which He intended from the beginning.
God has placed inside the heart of every human being, the genuine need for intimacy through relationship. This is not a conjured need, nor a superficially perceived need due to weakness – it is a function of our creation and it serves the purposes of God. Many have cut themselves off from this sense of need through hurts both real and imagined but, even that illustrates and validates the statement. There would be no purpose in hardening your heart against a need that does not exist. This hardening is the desire and work of the enemy and it is best used against the ambitious and the wounded, for both can scarcely afford the vulnerability. Satan uses this to gain advantage and steel most human hearts against every coming to know God in the first place.
Today we began learning about our union with God and how knowledge of that union…its purpose & function aid us in co-operation with our King and His reign through our lives in the Kingdom.
Union
In all honesty I did not know what I was going to teach on tonight. As I was asking the Lord for guidance, the following words rose up in my heart, “that eternal life which was with the Father“. While I had an innate knowing of where He wanted me to go with this, I couldn’t remember where the passage was found or in what context. Thank God for e-Sword! So I searched the phrase and up pops 1 John 1:1&2,
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— (2) the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us”
Here we see John describing Jesus, here called the Word of Life, as existing from eternity past, in perfect union with the other members of the Godhead. There is a theological word for this intra-relationship, and that is Perechoresis or circuminsession, but we will learn more about that next week.
The reason I bring it up now is that it is because of this relationship between the members of the Godhead that we have such a pervasive and all encompassing need for intimate union as humans.
God has made it clear in His Word that all of creation is for His pleasure, purposes and glory. Since the creation, spring forth from the very heart of God, everything in creation therefore points back to Him. All truth comes from God and in some way or another depict and reveal His character. So it is only to be expected that when He made creatures as His image bearers, that He created them with the core need for intimacy…any other reality would have painted a false picture of the Creator.
Union from the beginning
From the beginning God has illustrated His this need for union and intimacy, beginning with how He created mankind.
Gen. 2:18-25,
“(18) And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Now it is obvious that this thought did not just occur to God at this moment. God had created Adam alone ON PURPOSE, had shown him his purpose in creation by creating Adam before planting the Garden. Presumably Adam watched as God did His work, thus illustrating Adam’s work to tend and keep what God had made.
(19) Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. (20) So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
Historically, whoever names something is it’s master, ruler or head. God caused all the animals to pass before Adam to see what Adam would name them, and whatever name Adam gave them, became the creatures name. God was teaching Adam several things by this exercise. One thing was that he was ruler over all the animals. Another thing is that though all the animals had female helpers which were comparable to them, he had no helper who was comparable to himself.
(21) And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. (22) Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Once the lesson struck home, God answered the now perceived need, by creating a helper comparable to himself. Once she was created, God brought her to Adam and presented her to him.
(23) And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” (24) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (25) And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.“
Adam’s response was that of an enlightened man, one who had perfect comprehension of the importance and value of this mate God had created for him. She was part of him, yet separate. She was created to aid him in his God given work, but he was to chase after her and cherish her. They were physically separated in being but unified in purpose and through the physical act of sexual intercourse. They knew one another, were open and naked on every level and yet felt no need to hide – barefaced intimacy without shame or fear. It was indeed paradise!
Now, to be perfectly clear, Adam did not NEED Eve, nor did she NEED Adam. Their intimacy and union in life was to illustrate the real truth and need of man, which is intimacy and union with God. They needed God, but were free to enjoy union with one another and through that tactile union – grow in wisdom as to what it means to be created for union with God.
Why create mankind like this? Why make mankind with two genders, different yet compatible. With one leading, yet both equal in quality and value? Why create one to serve and the other to chase after? What was all of this teaching us?
This is the picture John begins to paint of the existence Christ had with God before He became a man.
1 John 1:1-2,
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— (2) the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—”
The words “from the beginning” actually mean – before there was a beginning.
John is the only gospel writer who had previously defined the term “LIFE” by Jesus’ Own words. In John 17:1-3, John records Christ as praying something to the Father which has DIRECT application to our teaching today,
“Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, (2) as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. (3) And this is eternal life, that they may know You in intimacy, You Who are the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.”
This life eternal, then, is not mere conscious and unending existence, but a life of acquaintance with God and Christ. In the Gospel of John, “know” (ginṓskō) denotes personal fellowship with God or Christ – the same fellowship which exists between the Father and the Son. It is intimacy through union with Him.
This was ALWAYS the message of the Gospel as seen from the words of Christ & Paul.
- Jn. 3:15
- Jn. 5:39
- Jn. 6:54
- Jn. 6:68
- Jn. 10:28
- Jn. 17:2,3
- Acts 13:48
- Rom. 5:21
- Rom. 6:23
- 1 Tim. 6:12
- Titus 1:2
- 1 Jn. 5:11
- and the list goes on and on.
Modern religion has made the message of the Gospel into a message of “do” & “don’t”, about righteousness and heaven. The gospel Jesus and Paul taught certainly spoke about the same, but for a different reason which is most clearly seen in Gal. 3:21,
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.”
This verse tells us that though righteousness is 100% necessary, it was NOT the goal. If God could have created a law that would have given true union with God, then righteousness (right standing with) God would have come through the law. This tells us that righteousness was not the end game – UNION WITH GOD was the end game and righteousness was simply the necessary requirement to obtain it.
God does not want good behavior, just for good behavior’s sake – He want to know us intimately! This seems counter intuitive for a God who knows all, but it is in fact the truth.
As A.W. Tozer said, “God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, … all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, …all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.”
So this being true, how could God desire to “know” anyone?
The term “know” here is the same as is used throughout John’s writings and it means “experiential knowledge” or knowledge gained by experiencing an event or a person. Even God cannot gain such knowledge without willful participation. This is why Paul said to the Galatians,
“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?”
Also it is why Christ said in Matt. 7:22-23,
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ (23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”
This of course does not mean that Christ or God had no academic knowledge of them or their existence, but that He was never intimate with them – He never “KNEW” them by way of relational experience.
The message contained much more than this intro to the subject and we will go much further into the nature of union by examining the Perichoresis next week, but for now that is all for today.
Blessings!
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Attendance at our church will NOT even be mentioned nor will money.
If you have been spiritually fed by this ministry and wish to give, we truly appreciate that and you may do so here, but all outreaches of this ministry are FREE for you and anyone to enjoy at no cost.
Blessings!
