Posts Tagged ‘Incarnational’
Holy Spirit—Union With God
July 7, 2012 | 
Author Holy Spirit—Union With God
I steep and soak in my reflections on what it means to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” I have been reading, studying, asking questions, and organizing my thoughts in a non-stop immersion since just after Easter of this year. I have, of course, studied this aspect of Christian faith before now, but I have followed a hunger to really pull out all stops and dig deeply into a myriad of unsettled questions I have had and see where my studies and God’s Spirit leads me.
Most recently, after reading a few books and reflecting in Scripture, an analogy I have pondered previously began to clarify and take on deeper meaning to me. I should probably do a little context work before I proceed further.
One of the questions I have been asking lately is in response to my personal witness of the Christian journey; that is, the daily life lived out in the pursuit of becoming perfected in the likeness of Jesus Christ. I have written out many of my thoughts on this subject over the course of the past decade, but consolidated some of those ideas in a recent series here (see link). Essentially, I am wondering aloud, if we are able to complete the Christian journey intact (aka eternally perfected—saved) without the “full in-filling” or baptism of the Holy Spirit as it is spoken about in Scripture. I realize there are many thoughts and doctrine about this teaching with a great deal of diversity and disparity of interpretation therein, but the role and work of the Holy Spirit, as mysterious as it may be, is very prominent in the Scriptures from beginning to end. Considering this prominence, I cannot help but be very drawn to trying to understand what my response should be to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
There are a few assumed conclusions I have settled upon at this juncture of my studies (always subject to change as I continue to study and learn) and subsequent understanding; they are as follows:
- We are incapable of living out the life of holiness God commands us to live without the work of the Holy Spirit within us. In other words, we cannot become what God wants of us without God within us.
- Christian perfection (becoming like Christ in every way) is part of the plan of God from before the beginning of time.
- Not becoming perfected (especially willful refusal to grow in the ways of spiritual maturity) in the Way of Christ can influence our eternal future.
- Visible manifestations and measurable evidences (spiritual fruit) are part of the Christian journey and useful in the grading (aka judging) one another’s progression and course of discipleship.
I might share a few more questions floating around my head before describing my analogy. I wonder at what point a person is filled with or baptized with the Holy Spirit. Is it something that happens at the moment of spiritual rebirth/regeneration? Is it a specific second work of grace that takes place subsequent to regenerative conversion? If being “born again” and “filled with the Spirit” are a singular event, how do we explain the discrepancies for singularity we read about in the Bible (the original followers of Jesus, the household of Cornelius, and the believers at Ephesus are a few examples). Is the total surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer an optional path of discipleship? There are other questions influencing my study, but I consider these sufficient to provide a backdrop for my analogy.
Union with God ◊ Marriage Metaphors
All throughout Scripture, God employs the use of marriage and sexual intimacy as strong metaphors to describe the relationship between man and the Triune Godhead. God calls the people of Israel “adulterers and adulteresses” for forsaking their primacy of relationship with Him for other gods. He also gives Hosea specific instructions to marry a prostitute in order to construct a visual aid for all to see how He perceives His relationship with the chosen people of Israel. Likewise, the beauty of intimacy is described in vivid detail with the Song of Solomon, and is believed to be a metaphor for the bond of love between Christ and the Church. The Church is mentioned as the “Bride” of Christ, and the “Marriage Feast of the Lamb” is a prominent event mentioned in Scripture, especially in the Book of the Revelation. The description of a man and woman becoming “one flesh” and the “oneness” described by Jesus in his Priestly Prayer (John 17) cannot be ignored as we consider all these descriptions, metaphors, and analogies. What is it that God is portraying for us in them? How are we to interpret what God is speaking through these descriptions? Why is it that these particular and strong word pictures are featured so predominately?
One last disclaimer and qualifier: Every metaphor limps—because no metaphor is perfect. This is why we use metaphors, because the “perfect explanation” is out of our reach and our closest approximation is to say, “Blank is like blank.” Remember; like is not is.
I think the Christian journey as the baptism of the Holy Spirit relates to it is like the courtship to marriage relationship.
- I think many persons will make their first steps toward Christian rebirth under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches the Holy Spirit is involved with drawing fallen humans to God. I see similarity between the “wooing” of the Spirit and how the courtship of a man and woman might progress. Whereas the spiritual journey might see the respondent opening to their awareness to God, the physical relationship between a man and a woman might similarly see them opening to one another (becoming more agreeable to conversations and the depth of information each other are willing to disclose). I might liken these first steps to an introductory or initial dating phase.
- As dating and courtship continue between human relationships, so does the relationship between man and God. As the man’s curiosity and awareness to the presence and activity of God is heightened, he is driven and drawn to learn more about this God who “woos” him. Similarly, we see the same behavior exhibited between a man and woman as they learn the dance of romance as well as determine their compatibility and need for one another.
- Counting the cost of relationship is wise advice according to the words of Jesus. I believe this applies to temporal relationships between men and women as much as it applies to the temporal-eternal relationship between man and God. A woman might consider how a man will treat her, provide for her materially and emotionally… what kind of father he might be to her children, and etc. Likewise, Jesus advises the potential follower-disciple to evaluate the cost involved in following or “being married to” Him.
- Eventually there comes a nexus where betrothal, engagement, or the promise to marry becomes the primary question. In this moment, a commitment takes place between the parties consigning devotion to one another. I think this same process occurs in the spiritual relationship with Christ. The speed and the means by which the process unfolds might look differently from person to person, but the realization of the question, answer, and ultimate decision is probably very similar.
- Marriage. The Covenant agreement. In both cases there seems intellectual and soulful agreement to belong to one another. Jesus’ promise to all who would follow Him devotedly is that He would never leave or forsake them. Similarly, the covenant agreement in marriage vows echoes a “forever” commitment, “…to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.” I don’t know the ritual covenantal vows for all cultures and Christian denominations, but would imagine they might be very common to those I mention. Jesus, on many occasions, uses the marriage metaphor to describe the relationship between his followers and himself (Matt 9:15; 25:1-10; John 3:29). I completed a study and wrote an essay on the parallels of marriage as a divine institution some years ago that has more information on these thoughts (see link).
- Consummation. I believe the in-filling or baptism of the Holy Spirit might be likened to the consummation of a marriage. I realize how stark and intimate this metaphor seems, but it is the analogy that God uses throughout the Holy Scriptures to describe the relationship between Himself and mankind. As I mentioned in point number five, I believe that becoming “born again” may happen at the time of intellectual and soulful agreement to the person of Jesus Christ and the affirmation of the atoning sacrifice of his life for our sin. I believe in accordance to the teaching of Scripture that this is a justifying act of grace declared by the voice and hand of God who declares that soul as “saved.” This declaration is a divinely valid agreement and the person over whom it is declared is as eternally secure and “saved” as they can or ever will be. I think the same can be said for the person who is married… they are never any more legally married or bound to their respective spouse on the first day of marriage than they are on their fiftieth year of marriage. Can a person be legally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically married without the act of conjugal consummation? I believe the answer is yes, but in many cultures, the lack of consummation can be grounds for annulment of the marriage…not divorce, but annulment. Annulment states specific grounds for which the marriage is declared void—as if it never took place—and was never actualized as a real marriage. Jesus declares the baptism of the Holy Spirit a divine imperative; consummation of the divine relationship is a mandate and expectation. Jesus speaks very explicitly about this union with his followers in his teaching about abiding in him (John 15) and in the prayer for unity and oneness found in John chapter seventeen. The parallel is also seen when Jesus reminds the teachers of the Law that it was God’s divine planning for a man to leave his family to be “joined as one flesh” with his wife. It is the joining of the Holy Spirit with the believer that makes him or her more than they were as their former self. Jesus said believers would receive “power from on high” when the Holy Spirit came to take up residence within them. This is the ultimate form of love in union. It requires absolute trust and absolute surrender. We are taught by Jesus that he “chose us as his own” for the purpose of bearing fruit for His Father, God, and His Kingdom. Christian fruit (john 15) can only come from “consummation” of the relationship (infilling/baptism of the Holy Spirit) just the same as children from a couple can only come through consummation of marital relationship. The reciprocity of surrender and giving of selves to one another naturally produce godly “fruit”—this might be manifest in the most basic of levels, with children…and in other manifestations deeper intimacy of relationship and “knowing” one another. Perhaps… this might help us to understand why it is that Jesus speaks so forthrightly about men and women who professed their “marriage” to Christ on the Day of Judgment. Jesus speaks the following words from the Gospel of Matthew chapter seven:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt. 7:21-23)
It is interesting to me the word Jesus uses “knew” is the same word, and I believe the same contextual meaning, as his mother, Mary, used when she answered to the angel Gabriel for example in Luke 1:34, “And Mary [a virgin] said to the angel, ‘How will this be since I do not know (Strongs-1097 /ginṓskō = sexual intimacy) a man.
It may be that without the active infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus does not know us in the strictest and most important way we are to be known.
I think ultimately we also need to realize that living in union and communion with God is not about being perfect or achieving some level of Christian perfection. I definitively believe and understand the process of Christian formation or entire sanctification is not measured by perfection, but is measured by the level of our surrender to the process and to the Holy Spirit who guides it.
Emptying Precedes Filling…
You must be emptied before you are filled. There is no plerosis without there being kenosis first
Plerosis: filling; regeneration; specifically, the return of flesh after a wasting illness.
Kenosis: emptying, depletion, emptiness (of life); depletion, low diet, as opposed to plerosis fullness
–See also Philippians 2:5-8
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
I’m spending time this morning and today reflecting on what it means to be “poor in spirit.” A number of complimentary thoughts join this one as I consider what it means to be emptied as Christ was emptied (Philippians 2:7). What does it mean to be “emptied” and “poor in spirit?” I think as I begin to make a mental list of Biblical examples of people who were “emptied” I was not aware of how quickly my list would grow. The more thought I give to these examples and the ways they were emptied of self for the work of God, the longer the list of names becomes.
Take for instance, Jacob, he takes quite a licking. From the moment of his birth he is called “deceiver” (Genesis 25:26). Jacob lives up to his name as we read through the account of his life, but we see him living through a lifetime of being “emptied.” His time under Laban is a lesson in servile humility, the fear of retribution from his brother is an oppressive bondage, and God brings him to a place of “divine emptiness” on the evening at Peniel where he is “filled” with the blessing of God and renamed Israel, God Fights, (Genesis 32:22-32). The thing is that Jacob doesn’t stay filled; he continues a lifetime of being “emptied” and “refilled” all the way until his death… read his story and see what you think.
The lessons continue as I consider Moses and the kenosis—plerosis of his life. Moses was emptied at birth being set sail on the Nile River by his mother. His story never seems to break the cycle of being emptied and filled from his exile from Egypt to Midian, raised as the deliverer of his people only to be emptied again in the desert as he shepherded a rebellious nation for forty years… ultimately being emptied of the promise of living in the “land of God” to being filled with eternal living in the Presence of God. David is much the same type of story; his entire life a journey of emptying and filling. David is anointed as a boy to ascend the throne of Israel, but is emptied of the love and respect of his brothers… He is filled with exaltation by moving into the palace of Saul and then emptied again through the jealously harsh treatment of Saul until he enters exile to the desert. He ultimately reaches “filling” again as he assumes the throne of Israel, but the lessons of emptying and filling continue for the remainder of his life.
Just name-dropping a few more examples for you to consider would be the names of Job, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Hosea who come to my memory. Read their stories and come to your own conclusions or consider the apostle Paul who serves as another grand example of emptying and filling. Paul was one of the brightest students of God for his day. He was being groomed to be one of the great leader-rabbis of his time. His zeal for God was incomparable to his peers. He was emptied of all this by Jesus Christ Himself (Acts 9:3-9). Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, but still continued a lifetime of being emptied and refilled until his death (Philippians 3:5-14 and 2 Corinthians 11:1-12:10 are just some examples).
If you are praised, be silent. If you are scolded, be silent. If you incur losses, be silent. If you receive profit, be silent. If you are hungry, also be silent. –St. Feofil
An interesting thing about this emptying business; I’m not sure we realize how much we are in need of emptying until we are in the actual process of being emptied ourselves. When we start to see “ourselves” being emptied we are often struck with a sense of horror and disgust; horrified at what might be happening to us and disgusted with what we see in ourselves… Of course, the depiction of someone being physically nailed to a cross and suffering the torture of that type of death is rather horrifying and disgusting too…but that is the humility, shame, and suffering of emptying that our Lord Jesus endured, so we might also learn to empty ourselves. I think we can become somewhat numb and desensitized to the process that it becomes easy for us to avoid…even justifying our avoidance of it or even being embarrassed to admit that we are going through a season of emptying. We not only need these seasons though, they are absolutely necessary for the completion of God’s work to be done in us. If we fail to submit to the kenosis (emptying) in our lives, there will be no plerosis (filling) in our lives. Emptying is a necessary prerequisite for blessing and filling. There is no plerosis without kenosis… a vessel cannot be filled until it is emptied. Let him who is poor in spirit, seek the Lord who fills.
4I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. –Psalm 34:4-7
“…we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance.” Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Confession [24SEPT2010]
I’m tired.
I wish I had more time to devote to my reading and my writing. At the moment my employment is consuming around 55% of my life… or more, if I count indirect consumption too. When I factor in sleep (a necessity I am told), I am left with less than 15% of my daily existence to call “my own.” This sounds like a selfish approach to my life, and without context or qualification it probably is, but that’s not what my thought is about. The bottom line is this; my flesh is in rebellion. I don’t like having less than 15% (translates to around 3.5 hours) of my time and day to do the things that are necessary to the maintenance of my family, running a household, planting/building a new church, devotional study, or any other element that “I” decide has value over sleep and employment. I know, I know… welcome to reality; right? I get it… seriously, I get it. My confession is not a complaint. My confession is a outward and public reminder for me to remember and be held accountable to the truth I know to be real.
I recognize God is “in” all I do, provided that I focus on responding to His movement and Presence in my life, but knowing that and even living obediently to that knowledge doesn’t make it any less difficult. I think, perhaps, this is an extended application of what it means to live missionally. Practically speaking, followers of Jesus are supposed to be vessels of the Most High God, taking the Good News to places that are not inhabited by the Gospel. I am positive that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the authority of (or in) my workplace… Maybe, just maybe, my “mustard seed” of living the gospel while I am in the “chains” of my employer will bear the fruit of freedom for someone, if even indirectly. Perhaps my living faith may be a ray of hope that turns to the light of new life for someone or someones… The harsh truth to me is this:
If I am unable to live the Gospel in the gritty moments of life, what difference does it really make in the quiet comforts of life?
I will thank God the Spirit who dwells within me for calling me to account this day and I will respond with action to press on in joyful obedience for the sake of others who need His Truth. To God be the glory this day and forever. Amen.
Posted in Becoming the Word, Confession, Dailyness..., iCrucified, Incarnational, Meditations, Shaping Me | 
Tags: confesson, Incarnational, Jesus, Missional, relational, Spirituality | 
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Book Review: The Tangible Kingdom
Book Review: The Tangible Kingdom
The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter & Matt Smay
Hmmm…what to say, what to say…
LOVED IT.
A book like this requires some degree of back-story, and it was provided, so it was a little long for me to get to the nitty gritty of what I was searching for in the story. It was around chapters nine and ten that I found myself getting “sucked in” to the heart of what Hugh Halter was driving at. I am incredibly excited about the community described in the tangible kingdom. It brings great joy to me to hear that people are living the life that Jesus taught…and not some cheaply interpreted facsimile of it.
Chapters ten through around fourteen were mostly about deconstruction from the “way we have always done things.” I appreciated that Halter was not overly critical toward the methods he was deconstructing; in fact, he seemed very sensitive to the people entrenched in those systems.
Chapters fifteen through eighteen were rebuilding chapters; teaching the foundational elements of this “incarnational community.” Everything that was shared in these chapters just seemed to make such beautiful sense… I found myself saying over and over; “yes, yes, yes, yes…!!!”
The final chapters, nineteen through twenty-one, were about the focus and outcome of the three primary components of the community once people decide to “join” the community. This focus hinges on togetherness, oneness, and otherness…and I’ll stop there. The teaching and the illustrations used by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay are very clear and easy to understand. It would be my great desire to see this community with my own eyes. I would love to get some one-on-one leadership development from an existing-healthy-functioning community.
In my opinion, this is another 5-star book and another must read for those people and leaders desiring to live missionally and incarnationally (buzzwordsy I know, but I don’t know how else to describe it). Personally, I don’t know that I’d follow everything from this book… I have some personal convictions that differ from the authors, but I understand the heart of his passion and with that I agree 100%. I recommend this book very highly. I’m glad to kickoff my 2010 reading year with this one; a great way to start it out.
Posted in Becoming the Word, Books, Incarnational, Media, Missional, Shaping Me | Tags: Ancient Christianity, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Christ, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, church, Discipleship, Gospel, Incarnational, Missional, Spiritual Disciplines, Spirituality | 1 Comment »
So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church –Day 5
Part 3: The Incarnational Life: God’s “No” -continued
I picked up my reading from Part Three of So Beautiful with chapter twelve and it seemed it started in a “clap of thunder” and “full sprint.” The Incarnation is “to live in the world, but not of the world.” My reading began with a heart examination:
“Or here’s another Jesus Metaphor-Faith is the ‘saltness’ that brings every food to life and makes it pleasurable. How salty is your life? How salt-of-the-earth is your church? Or has your salt turned to basalt?
I especially appreciated the call to memory of the prophet Jeremiah’s words to the exiled peoples of Jerusalem as they were being carried away captive to Babylon; “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters.” In other words, become a part of that community. (p.180)
“Incarnants are cheerful pessimists: We see the world as it is, and as it could be, while enjoying the world as it is, and as it could be.” Len Sweet (p.183)
This chapter is extremely thought-provoking. Culmination of the MRI model (missional, relational, incarnational) is in this final part of the book, So Beautiful. It is a call to action and I have found it very difficult to stay focused on the words without my mind wandering…interacting, and considering how my routines and attitudes might change in order to be more malleable and useful in the advancing of God’s Kingdom. I want to be a builder and beautifier of the Bride that is Christ’s…His Church.
This Incarnational section borrows the structure of part two, rephrasing and representing the “idea” of incarnation over, and over, and over, and over, and over again…living in-not of; becoming part of culture, but not losing identity In Christ. Metaphors, analogies, and various other illustrations flood the pages appealing to the senses and learning style of almost any reader. The inclusion of so much diversity and description in mission stands as a clarion call to Be the Church; almost begging the rhetorical question “what else is there to do in life; or what is life really all about?” This is it: allowing permission to the Spirit of the Living God to live in and through us in order to redeem, reconcile and restore all of creation. This, to me, is incarnation.
A secondary and very critical point underscored time and time again is the “not a formula and no templates allowed” directive. We must be fluid… “liquid” -living water. What works as an embodiment of Christ to the world in which you have been planted may not (and probably will not work) in a different culture and context. As I was reading this part of the book, another book came to mind that I have been enjoying this year, Ancient Christian Devotional. An excerpt I read just a few days ago from that book illustrated in a very beautiful and thoughtful way this “liquidity” of person and mission. Hear the following words from Cyril of Jerusalem:
“One and the same rain comes down on all the world, yet it becomes white in the lily, red in the rose, purple in the violets and the hyacinths, different and many-colored in manifold species. Thus it is one in the palm tree and another in the vine, and all in all things, though it is uniform and does not vary in itself. For the rain does not change, coming down now as one thing and now as another, but it adapts itself to the thing receiving it and becomes what is suitable to each. Similarly the Holy Spirit, being One and of one nature and indivisible, imparts to each one his grace ‘according as he will.’ The dry tree when watered brings forth shoots. So too does the soul in sin, once made worthy through repentance of the grace of the Holy Spirit, flower into justice.” (Catachesis 14.12)
In the end, we are gardeners. Actually, in the beginning, along the way, and in the end…we are gardeners. Gardeners are what we are created to be. Isn’t it amazing how many parables and illustrations are used in the Bible and elsewhere to describe our relationship with our Creator? It amazes me and it makes me take notice. I will close this portion of my book discussion with a few final quotes and a plan to wrap up this review by the close of the weekend. Consider the divine gardener metaphors as you read these closing comments from So Beautiful…
“He who seeks the Bird of Paradise must put down a little seed.” -African saying.
“No matter who you encounter in life, Jesus has preceded you and prepared the way for whatever you are to accomplish. But the soil must receive the seed, or there will be no harvest. The seed must be planted into soil. You can’t get crops out of rocks. ‘Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,’ Jesus said, ‘it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ We must die to self to rise and bear ‘much fruit’ in the grace and love of God. And the smallest of seeds can become the greatest of shrubs and bear the greatest fruit: ‘The kingdom of God…is like a mustard seed.’” Len Sweet (p.211)
…i Crucified – yep.
Posted in A Deeper Walk, Becoming the Word, Books, iCrucified, Media, Shaping Me, So Beautiful | Tags: Book, Book Review, Books, Christianity, disciple, Discipleship, Divine design for life and the church, incarnation, Incarnational, Jesus, Len Sweet, Leneord Sweet, Missiology, So Beautiful | No Comments »
So Beautiful – Day 4
So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church -Day 4
I finished part two (The Relational Life: God’s “Yes”) today and started part three (The Incarnational Life: God’s “No”). I really connected to the relational life; I also liked part one (The Missional Life: God’s “Go”), but my spirit soared all the while I was immersed in reading and absorbing the relational life chapters. Several aspects of Len Sweet’s so thorough explanation of the relational life connected with me. I realize this was intentional on his part because of the painstaking effort taken to express his points. In chapter seventeen of part two Sweet writes the following:
“In case you haven’t noticed, this entire section has been saying the same thing over and over again from every conceivable angle and position. This is necessary because
of all the features of the divine design, this track seems to be the most difficult for us to grasp and travel. Why is relationality, this relational component of MRI, so hard for us? Ever since Descartes, we’ve been trained to think that the only real authority is reason itself, to which we all have equal access.”
This “relational” part of So Beautiful really fueled my thinking and for the last thirty-something hours I’ve been thinking of nothing but the interconnectivity of creation. Everything is interwoven and interdependent upon one another by God’s design down to and beyond the sub-atomic levels of our understanding. I realize how easy this thinking could swing over into Pantheism or Panentheism, but my thinking and (I believe) Len Sweet’s explanation of relationality is very different…extending into the understanding; “For in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28). Now, this being the case, how much more relational is the jewel of God’s creation, humanity? Or, better put, how much more relational should we be? We fall so short of God’s grand design…thank Him that He provides through Himself a means to restore our brokenness. Praise Jesus!
“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” (A person is a person through persons) -Zulu proverb Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Becoming the Word, Books, Meditations, Shaping Me, So Beautiful | Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Christianity, church, Incarnational, Jesus, Len Sweet, MRI, So Beautiful, Spirituality | No Comments »
