The Returning

Xi’an Stele: China 781AD. This monument describes the arrival of Christianity in China by Syrian missionaries in 635AD–It is called the “Religion of Light.”

What are we returning to?

What are the essentials in our life as followers of Jesus? If we are to strip away the entanglements of this world and its institutions, how would we live out our faith? How did our early Christian brothers and sisters live out the teachings of Jesus in the years and decades after His resurrection? And how was it possible for them to spread Christianity during a few short centuries–a time of intense persecution–before having the assembled and printed Bible we know today? What are we missing in modern Christianity?

Some would say that we need to return to foundational theology–what we believe about the Christian God. Others might say that we need to return to the basic disciplines of Christianity–study, prayer, worship, fasting, giving, and so on.

This is all admirable, but plenty of people believe the core truths of God’s identity and character and dutifully perform the disciplines of Christianity, and still find themselves stuck in rote behaviors, unhealthy or sinful habits, and unable to experience the abundant life that Jesus promised His followers.

We believe that Jesus modeled and communicated His hopes, desires and expectations for His followers, and that when we live them out, we will naturally experience freedom from sin and entanglements, healing of our wounded hearts and habits, and fulfilled and fruitful living.

So what did Jesus identify as the essentials? These are the heart of Jesus’s expectations for His people. They are all considered transcendent, and not surprisingly, a yearning for the transcendent is what Christians are experiencing more and more due to the reality that the modern Church has largely ignored this realm of experience.

adjective: transcendent

tran·scend·ent/ˌtran(t)ˈsend(ə)nt/

1. beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience.
2. (of God) existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe.

As you read through these descriptions, we invite you to question whether you or your congregation understands what it means to experience these transcendent qualities of life in Jesus Christ.

Hearing God

“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. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:13, 15”

Some people either view or represent Hearing God as the ultimate pinnacle of the Christian faith. We, however, believe it is actually an elementary part of our growth process–that the significant thing isn’t that God speaks, but rather, what He wants to speak about.

Jesus said, “My sheep know My voice. They won’t follow anyone else’s voice because they know what I sound like.” God speaks to His children primarily through our gifting. Those with word gifts (word of wisdom, knowledge, prophecy, exhortation, and interpretation) tend to receive words from the Lord, unsurprisingly. Those with mercy typically experience emotions that the Lord is inspiring to reveal His intentions.

Believers with the gift of distinguishing of spirits often see, hear, smell, taste or sense the Lord’s communication. These are just a few examples and they are by no means a complete list. The Lord speaks to us in Scripture, in worship, in dreams, in pictures, in emotions, in our senses, in prayer, and through other people. He speaks while we are awake or asleep; directly or indirectly; metaphorically or literally; in worship and warfare, in stillness and in action; and lastly, both in a still, small voice as well as in the storm.

exemplar: Frank Laubach, “Prayer”

Intimacy with God

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3″

As we begin to recognize how the Lord speaks, He starts inviting us into conversation about what He wants to talk about–typically about Himself and yourself. The deeper conversations the Lord wants to have with us reveal more about His heart and how He designed us to share His characteristics. And as we learn to agree with Him, He begins to transform us more and more into His image. The more we look and act like Him, the more opportunity He brings our way to join His grand adventure and do incredible things together!

Intimacy with God centers on mutual honesty. He reveals more of His heart to us as we reveal more of our own heart to Him. Both go hand in hand in this process.

exemplar: King David, “Psalms”

Abiding

“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15

Abiding refers to us remaining in a state of agreement, or alignment, with God. This is also known as oneness or connectedness with Him. Abiding involves us proceeding through our day in constant conversation with God, continually checking in to ask, “What is next, Lord? What are You up to now? And how do I join You in it?”

exemplar: Corrie Ten Boom, “Tramp For The Lord.”

Being filled with the Spirit

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. John 16:7″

“Don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit… Ephesians 5:18”

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? It tends to happen when we are in a state of abiding–consciously asking the Lord how to join in His work at hand. When we are aligned with His purpose, He empowers the spiritual gifts within us to bear supernatural results. It is that simple. Biblically speaking, there isn’t a set pattern of what gifts will manifest when we are empowered by the Spirit of God–it is all dependent on how God wired us and what He wants to see happen in a given situation.

In the process of experiencing the filling of the Holy Spirit, we begin to recognize that there is a difference between operating in our gifting vs. being filled with the Spirit. In the first scenario our human spirit is operating the gift. In the second, the Holy Spirit is empowering the gift. And the two scenarios can have vastly different results. The point is that we can easily assume that our operation of our gifting is aligned with the will of God, when it may not be. A good example of this distinction can be found in 1. Chronicles 17 where Nathan’s spiritual counsel sounds good, but is later corrected by God in a dream.

We do not have the ability to turn on and off the genuine filling of the Spirit. Our filling happens at the discretion of the Lord, Any self-initiated expression of gifting is human powered at best.

Sometimes the filling of the Holy Spirit manifests in big showy ways for the purpose of spreading the fame of our God. Other times it is more subtle and is for the encouraging and equipping of the followers of Jesus Christ.

exemplar: Smith Wigglesworth

Surrender

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”…Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. Mark 10:17-22″

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29″

“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10″

As we continue in our journey of growth and maturity with the Lord, He inevitably begins to highlight areas of our life where a practice, a person, or a product holds too much value and too great a prominence in our heart, and He invites us to examine our obsession with it–He invites us to yield, or surrender it for His sake. Why is this? It is often due to the fact that these placeholders of prominence serve a purpose for us–they are a form of self-medication or escapism; validation or accolade; and image or identity.

It is different for everyone. For some He may invite them to give up their wealth, such as in the scripture above. For others it may be a relationship or a social status. And for many of us, He asks us to give up habits that are inhibiting our ability to experience all that He has in store for us.

God–our Father–ultimately wants to fulfill all of these needs and desires Himself, and as long as we are satisfied with cheap counterfeits, we won’t move into a deeper level of connection with Him.

When we do learn to yield to Him, He begins to fulfill those needs within us by illuminating them and healing the underlying need or wound. And when we yield to Him and receive from Him, a natural byproduct is an increased sense of spiritual authority.

exemplar: Brennan Manning, “Abba’s Child”

Spiritual Authority

“Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Luke 10”

We often put the cart before the horse in the Christian life, trying to use formulas to initiate transformation, victory over the demonic realm, and freedom from sin. Reality, however, is that a practical understanding of the authority that Jesus Christ extended to His followers is the foundation that all other action and fruit is built upon.

When we learn to walk in our God-given authority and His guidelines for its use, we will experience more fruitfulness in our daily lives.

exemplar: Charles Kraft, “I Give You Authority”