“If it is not about Jesus, it’s not about anything”
Motto of the Fountain of Life
Dear Reader, Please Scroll Down to Read Part 1 of Rev. Relic's installments about Joy
Dear Reader, Please Scroll Down to Read Part 1 of Rev. Relic's installments about Joy
SPS: Using the Logic of Grace to show that joy is
substance; happiness is emotion; Jesus is love.
The Joy of the Higher
Life
Sometimes
Christians misunderstand the beatitudes.
Some say that we are under grace therefore we don’t need to keep the 10
commandments. Just keep the beatitudes
and you’ll be OK. Many really just see
the beatitudes as the new upgraded list of do’s and don’ts, the spiritual
things that keep us right with God. The
problem with this is that we cannot keep the beatitudes any better than we can
keep the 10 commandments. The
commandments point out sin. The
beatitudes point out righteousness.
The
beatitudes provide the ethic for our spiritual life; they do not supply the
dynamic. Dynamic living is by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The law shows us death. The beatitudes show us life and we know this
because the Holy Spirit indwells us. They
show us the joy in our spirit. Paul
says, “Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians
2:5). The beatitudes show us Christ’s
mind. The Beatitudes present goals,
which the child of God wants to realize in his own life, but he can’t do it on
his own. We need Jesus’ help to practice
them. Keeping the beatitudes will not
make the child of God right with the Father, but keeping them will please the
father. Consider the awesome import of
that statement. With the dynamic help of
the Holy Spirit in us (beloved, put your name here) you have the power to bring
joy to God.
What
does joy look like in our higher life and what part does Jesus play in it?
1. Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in
spirit: For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.”
The
poor in spirit may be upper, lower or middle class; educated or uneducated;
men, women, boys or girls, slave or free.
Those poor in spirit are those who are very aware of their Spiritual
need; their spiritual poverty. This is
the awareness that without Jesus we are void of everything. This is true humility. Christians have a clear knowledge that He
made us and not we ourselves. We are the sheep of his pasture. He is the shepherd (Psalm 100:3). The poor in Spirit acknowledge their
spiritual poverty. Jesus opens His
kingdom to the poor (James 2:5).
That is cause for joy.
2. Matthew 5:4 – “Blessed are those who
mourn. For they shall be comforted.”
Mourn: As explained in the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, this mourning is not the sorrow felt from loss or pain or any of
life’s considerable pressures upon us.
It is the attitude that our spiritual poverty engenders. It is the complement of being poor in
spirit. The first beatitude is the
intellectual awareness of our poverty; the mourning is emotional response to
it. It is Isaiah’s lamentation upon
realizing that he is in God’s presence, “Woe is me for I am undone.” Jesus sends the Comforter (John 14:16
– The Holy Spirit). That is cause for
joy.
3. Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek. For they shall inherit the earth.”
The
people hearing Jesus on the mount would recognize that he was saying a quiet,
gentle spirit brings joy. They also clearly
understood that this example of meekness stood in stark contrast to the proud
and self-important scribes and Pharisees.
The meek control their tongue.
The meek can bear provocation or opposition without being enflamed by
it. They are able to control their
tongue and say nothing, or render a soft answer or a gracious answer. They are blessed because in their meek response
they become like Jesus (Philippians 2:5).
This is a cause for joy.
Ps.
37:11 says: “And the meek shall inherit
the earth.” Those Jews hearing Jesus
knew this prophecy. Now it is
fulfilled. Jesus shares His
inheritance with us (Romans 8:17). We
inherit not just the earth but also the kingdom. And Jesus shares His throne with us
(Revelation 3:21). This is a cause for
joy.
4. Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.”
Hunger
and thirst are the keenest appetites.
The Jews sought righteousness by the law. Children of God have imputed to them the
righteousness of Jesus. We hunger for
all those spiritual blessings that attach to being heirs of the kingdom. The natural man does not seek after
righteousness. It is foolishness to
him. The man of God finds that Christ is
his righteousness. 1 Corinthians
1:33: “…ye are in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness.”
Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35).
He bids us to take and eat (Matthew 26:26). When we desire Him, Jesus fills us
with His Word. We ingest His word and we
shall be filled. (Filled with joy)
5. Matthew 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy.”
The
merciful are in harmony with those who seek righteousness. The one act begets the other. Psalm 18:25 reads: “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself
merciful.” We are not to be like the
unjust steward. The master gave him
mercy for the 10000 talents debt. The unmerciful steward was unmerciful for a
100 pence debt. Compared to the King’s
wealth the unjust steward was in poverty.
Compared to the poor servant the unjust steward was wealthy. We learn that we may be merciful in any
condition, rich or poor, in good health or ill, etc. Under both covenants, we understand this to
mean having compassion, pity and empathy upon others. We understand that it is not a legal
agreement; I do this then God does that (quid pro quo). We are merciful because Jesus first gave
us mercy. That is a cause of joy.
6. Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.”
Psalm
24:4-5 reads “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart…shall receive the
blessing of the Lord.” The Jews knew
that much emphasis was placed upon ritual washings and purifications and
outward morality. Here Jesus shows that
outward purification should become internal purification. We are not to be whitened sepulchers. Christianity is in the heart. When Jesus
died and was resurrected we were purged of sin and its judgment and we are
assured of salvation. Along with His
righteousness Jesus imputed His purity to us. When the Father sees us He sees the purity of
Jesus. When we are pure and become like
Him, 1 John 3:2-3 tells us that we will see God. That anticipation is a cause of joy.
7. Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called Sons of God.”
Do
you know any peacemakers? Henry
Kissinger, Neville Chamberlain, Bill Clinton?
The fact is that there is only one Peacemaker. That is Jesus. Peacemaking flows from pureness. The pure are not peacemakers for political
reasons, scheming to advance a cause or to seek advantage. They seek peace purely without motive for the
sake of peace. Those who are pure toward
God are peaceable toward man.
Jesus
sent us the Holy Spirit. What is one
blessing of receiving the Spirit? Read
Galatians 5:22. “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, and…peace.” Only children of God receive the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. Those with the peace
of the Holy Spirit are rightly called sons of God. Jesus makes peace with the whole
creation (2 Corinthians5:19). That is
cause for joy.
8. Matthew 5:10 – “Blessed are those who are
persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
John
15:19-20: “I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world will hate you…If they persecuted Me they will
persecute you.”
The
persecuted Church at Smyrna was exempt from the second death (Revelation 2:8). Their example is clear and theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Sons of God are
exempt from the second death. Jesus
chose us out of the world. That is
cause for joy.
Our Father and
Daddy
Does
that sound disrespectful? Some godly
theologians take issue with anybody being “buddy-buddy” with the Great Almighty
Father. Dear Reader, broadly speaking
some Western Theologies focus upon the sovereignty of the Father. And some focus upon the ministry of the
Spirit. Trinitarian Theology believes
the literal reality of John 14:9 and looks to Jesus as the revelation of
God. As such it is incarnational and
Christocentric. It yields a theology of
inclusion. That inclusion reveals an
ontology, if you will, of relationship above essence and it has tremendous
import not only on how we understand God’s self-revelation, but how we view
ourselves. For example, it is true that
Jesus is our Lord and Master and Sovereign King. We willing and joyfully are his servants,
slaves and subjects. We find our
greatest joy surrendering to and serving Jesus because only in this surrender
do we find ourselves truly free. Yet the
Logic of Spirit shows that there is also another simultaneous aspect to our
miraculous relationship to and with the Trinity through mankind’s inclusion
into Jesus.
We
understand that through adoption we are formally sons of God (Ephesians 1:5)
and thereby heirs of all the promises. Formality
alone leads to a viable but incomplete and far too often to a stilted relationship. A formal stilted relationship distorts our
view, even our view of ourselves. It is
as though we say “Sure, I am His son, but He is totally sovereign and
unapproachable in His holiness. I’d just
better stay out of His way and act reverently like one of the servants.” But there is another dimension to this
adoption process that completes the relationship. Have you ever given any thought to the
intimacy the Father offers to us by our inclusion in Jesus through the
Holy Spirit? The New Testaments strongly
indicates it. We have the word “Abba”
used three times; Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6. Sometime we are so focused upon and
understandably intimated by the sovereignty and majesty of God the Father that
we forget that we are not servants but included as sons and joint heirs with
Christ. Sometime we regard it as irreverent
to claim the same closeness and intimacy with the Almighty Father God that we possess
with our human dads. We feel proud to
call ourselves bond slaves of Jesus as did St. Paul in Romans 1:1. Yet we feel it irreverent to recognize our inclusion
in Christ’s inheritance (Romans 8:17; Titus 3:7; Galatian 4:5) and irreverent
to respond as loving sons of the Great Almighty Father. But think on it again.
Abba: According to W.E. Vine’s “An Expository Dictionary
of New Testament Words” “Slaves (servants if you will) were forbidden to
address the head of the family with this title Abba. It approximates a personal name.” Abba is the word spoken by infants when they
are learning to form words. It implies the
unreasoning trust of a child who is unaware of the sovereign power of the
father of the house. The child only
knows the love, the care, the attention, and the tender and often playful touch
of the daddy and responds accordingly. This
intimate relationship is also ours.
Could this knowledge bring untold joy to our spirits?
Conclusion
The
fruit of the Spirit is not something that the Holy Spirit possesses. Love, joy peace etc. are the Holy
Spirit. Love is his being, it is his
essence. Jesus is love. He is not like love; He does not possess love;
He is love. Jesus shares all with the
Holy Spirit. Love and joy are not
attributes, they are the essence, the substance of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit likewise is love and
joy. Just as physical fruit is a
substance and sweet taste is an attribute, this fruit of the Spirit, Joy,
(Galatians 5:22) is the substance and happiness is an attribute. Happiness is not the substance. Since emotion may or may not attach to the
fruit it cannot define the fruit.
Brethren,
since joy is the substance and happiness is the attribute and since Jesus frees
us from guilt, what is the Logic of Spirit here? It is this:
1. We lowly unworthy slaves become elevated
beloved sons of God. Is that cause of
joy?
2. We are freed from feeling bad about feeling
bad and we can start to feel good (joy).
3. Keeping the Beatitudes will bring intimate
relational reciprocal joy to our dad (Abba).
4. Knowing that the great sovereign and majestic
Father is our dad rightly fills us with intimate relational joy and rightly
makes us feel happy.
Beloved,
Christ Jesus said in John 14:20, “I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you.” This is not a condition for the
future. This is a promise for you
(What’s your name?) now.
POST SCRIPT
And Benediction
Brethren,
many good and godly men disagree over the condition of our spirits or souls after
physical death. Therefore some may
hesitate about this teaching concerning the continuous reality of our position
in Jesus because they believe in the doctrine of temporary unconscious Soul
Sleep. This indicates a delay in our
transitions from this life into heaven. Based
upon our understanding of certain Scriptures that doctrine is rational and may
be correct. Nonetheless, it is fair to
recognize that our physical understanding of time and eternity is imperfect,
and may lead to misunderstandings. The
Logic of Dynamic Eternity rationally and scripturally teaches that the power of
life in Christ transcends our understanding of time and its effects on the
state of physical death. That dynamic power
of Christ’s life in us renders a discussion of the state of our consciousness
after death as a peripheral issue. For
example, from the perspective of Eternity if unconscious following death produces
a delayed transition into heaven of 100 or 100,000,000 years that delay is
still less than half of a quarter of a heartbeat, and hardly discernable I
should think from a conscious immediate transition into heaven. Jesus views that which is not yet as that
which was. It seems that in either state
we exist continuously and eternally with and in Jesus at the throne of God
right now. That knowledge is a source of
joy and hopefully removes a source of division.
Rather
than exploring that issue further, let us all enter into a very brief dialogue and
aim at some points of agreement. Joy is
a present and dynamic reality. In
honesty, Soul Sleep and post death consciousness are possibilities. We really don’t know which will occur. But neither effects the present and the
future states of Joy. Let us look to a free
rendering of Matthew 6:33-34 and bring the Logic of Spirit to bear upon these
topics. “Seek now first, today, the
Kingdom of God. And in comparison to
seeking the Kingdom, don’t be over concerned for other thoughts or ideas concerning
the state of tomorrow. And what about those
thoughts of tomorrow? God will show us those
future things and give us resolution to them when the right time comes.”
Beloved. May the joy, peace and love of God our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ fill you yesterday, today and tomorrow!
Rev.
George Relic, Assistant Pastor
Fountain
of Life Church
2021 Old National Pike
Washington, Pa 15301
A
congregation of Grace Communion International
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